BSY dismisses talks of Indira Canteen closure

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa clarified that the government had no intention of either closing down or renaming Indira Canteens, the populist eateries started by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress regime, here on Wednesday.

"There is no truth in the rumours that we are planning to close Indira canteens. We will only investigate allegations of irregularities in running these eateries," he said. To a question that funds were yet to be released to operate the subsidised canteens, he said that BBMP would sanction funds for the scheme.

According to the complaints, Yediyurappa said the number of meals served at Indira canteens were inflated, which will be probed by the government. To a question, he said that there was no proposal to rename these canteens launched in 2017. "There are reports that if only 100 people have eaten, it is shown as 1,000 people. Shouldn't this be probed," the CM asked.

Indira canteens, it can be noted, is on the verge of closure as neither the state government nor the BBMP has set aside any budget to continue the populist scheme. "Why didn't the previous government release the funds? We're only trying to rectify loopholes. There's no malicious intent," Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan said.

The Congress has been on an offensive and has threatened to launch a state-wide protest if the BJP government did anything to scuttle the canteens' functioning.

Earlier in the day, former chief minister Siddaramaiah - who launched Indira canteens - hit out at the BJP government for not allotting funds to keep the canteens operational. "I am writing to the government to release the necessary grants for the Indira Canteen project soon. The plan of the poor must never stop," he tweeted.