Taking on Modi: Karnataka forges “Kerosene Front” against Centre

Bengaluru: With the Narendra Modi juggernaut rolling without a hurdle from one state to the other, Congress-ruled Karnataka has come up with a factor to unite the southern states — all ruled by non-BJP parties against the Centre. The state is working out a united ‘kerosene’ front to battle Modi.

A month after TN CM O Panneerselvam dashed off a letter to PM opposing the Centre’s move to slash supply of subsidised kerosene, Karnataka’s food and civil supplies minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has taken the cue. He is attempting to make this issue the subject of a joint protest from the South. “I will write to the food and civil supplies ministers across the southern states,” Rao told ET.

“We should all protest this move by the Centre to slash the supply of subsidised kerosene, as it drastically affects the poor. I think a joint protest from the South will be more effective.”

Rao admitted that kerosene supply had been cut to all states across the country in line with the FM’s decision to reduce subsidies in the oil segment. But Rao indicated that he was opting to write only to the South states, initially, as all of them are non-BJP.