Guj implements Food Security Act as 'Maa Annapurna' scheme

Three years after the introduction of the National Food Security Act, the Gujarat government today implemented it across the state re-christening it as "Maa Annapurna Yojna", drawing the ire of Congress which accused the BJP of hijacking their pet programme.
"Maa Annapurna Yojna", was simultaneously launched from all the districts of the state on the BJP Foundation Day today, with Chief Minister Anandiben Patel seeking to give credit for the scheme to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and urging people to retain the government which brings such pro-poor schemes, keeping in mind the 2017 state elections.
Opposition Congress accused the BJP of "hijacking their pet programme", saying that only the party of Modi and Patel can do such a thing blatantly.

They said that it was only after Supreme Court reprimand that the state is implementing the Food Security Act.
"When Congress was ruling this state, only 1.88 crore people were given food-grains at subsidised rates prior to 1995. Now, under this Maa Annapurna Yojna, 3.82 crore people of Gujarat will be benefited. Each of them will get rice at Rs 3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg," said Patel in her address without mentioning once that it was a previous UPA act which she was implementing.
She even slammed past Congress governments in Gujarat for "not understanding the pain of poor citizens".

"Out of 35 kg given at subsidised rates during Congress rule, only 16 kg of food-grain was given at those rates, while for the remaining 19 kg, government used to charge Rs 7.70. Now, PM Modi removed this condition and has announced to give the entire 35 kg of food-grain at subsidised rates," she said.

Patel claimed that Modi is the first PM of India who took care of poor citizens.
"Due to efforts of Modiji, many poor citizens, including widows and those farmers who lost their crops, are now covered under this scheme and they no longer have to worry about feeding their families. No other PM has thought about poor people in the past," claimed Patel.

As 2017 Assembly elections are approaching, Patel
indirectly made an appeal to the people to vote for BJP, as she claimed that such pro-poor government should be retained for years to come.
"I believe that people should make sure that such pro-poor government remains in power for many years to come, so that we can serve the needy citizens," she said.
Reacting strongly about the renaming of the Act by the BJP-led state government, senior Congress leader and MLA Shaktisinh Gohil said that it is an old habit of BJP to change names of schemes launched by Congress-led government at the Centre and claim credit for it.

He even slammed Patel for indicating that the food scheme for poor citizens was envisioned by Modi.
"Only a BJP leader can utter such a blatant lie while sitting on such a high position. It is an indisputable fact that Food Security Act was brought by the Congress-led UPA government, not by BJP," said Gohil.
"Changing name of Central schemes and taking undue credit is an old practice of the Gujarat Government. Earlier, they even tried to take credit for 108-ambulance scheme, which was actually initiated and funded by the Central government," said Gohil.
"The Gujarat government failed to implement this Act in time and even faced the wrath of Supreme Court, which asked the state whether it was part of India or not. This practice of changing name of the scheme and telling lie is an highly condemnable act," added Gohil.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the issue would be explained to the electorate ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections.
"BJP should look into the past, as Modi, as the CM of Gujarat, once wrote a letter to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the implementation of Food Security Act, as Modi was against it. Now, as elections are approaching here, they are taking credit and renaming it to misguide people," said Doshi.
"We will take up this issue among the masses and tell them about how hard Congress worked for the implementation of this Act. Our workers will also see that no eligible citizens are left behind," added Doshi.