Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan and Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran demanded here on Monday that the Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy should apologise for his campaign against implementation of the order extending the scheme for supply of rice at Rs. 2 a kg.
Welcoming the High Court order quashing the Election Commission’s ban on implementation of the order, the Chief Minister said that Mr. Chandy had spoken against the plan to extend the scheme to cover 60 lakh families including those living above the poverty line. The Election Commission had said that it had banned implementation of the order when Mr. Chandy’s speech in the Assembly came to its notice.
Mr. Achuthanandan recalled that the Central government was yet to implement its scheme for supply of rice at Rs. 3 a kg announced two years ago. Kerala government was already providing rice at Rs. 2 a kg to 40 lakh families.
