Nandini vs Amul row heats up in Karnataka, poll setback worries BJP

With Assembly elections due within a month, the political row over the entry of Amul, the Gujarat state milk cooperative brand, in the Karnataka market has political implications for the ruling BJP as it stands to alienate a crucial electoral vote bank. The Opposition has alleged Amul’s entry, backed by the BJP, would pose a threat to the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) brand “Nandini” that is closely tied to the identity of Kannadigas.

As the row intensified on Sunday, following Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s allegation that the Basavaraj Bommai-led government for destroying the “state’s pride”, the state government got into damage-control mode. Minister for Cooperatives ST Somashekar said there was no proposal to merge KMF and Amul and hit out at the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) for turning the entry of Amul “into a political issue ahead of elections”.

“The production of milk during summer is relatively less and it is usual. There are 15 milk unions in Karnataka and all are making profits. Amul is selling milk online for Rs 57 per litre but Nandini milk costs only Rs 39 per litre. We send Nandini products to other states, including Tamil Nadu. We want to develop Nandini products like how Gujarat did it for Amul,” he said.

State Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan also dismissed rumours about KMF’s merger with Amul or its dissolution, saying, “KMF’s turnover is around Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 22,000 crore and without the cooperative department any merger is impossible.”

The seeds of the row were laid in December when Union Home Minister Amit Shah said at a rally in Mandya, “Together, Amul and Nandini will help set up primary dairies in every village of Karnataka within three years.” It gathered pace on Wednesday after Amul announced last week it would begin delivering milk and curd in Bengaluru.

To date, no government in the state has tried to dictate terms to the KMF, given its massive network that comprises 22,000 villages, 24 lakh milk producers, and 14,000 cooperative societies that procure approximately 84 lakh kg of milk every day. A majority of milk producers are from old Mysuru regions such as Mandya, Mysuru, Ramanagara and Kolar, and the central Karnataka district of Davangere, making them an important electoral constituency since they are spread across 120-130 Assembly seats.

While old Mysuru is a Vokkaliga belt where the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress hold sway, central Karnataka is part of the Lingayat belt. The Lingayats, who are electorally dominant, are the BJP’s biggest support base in the state. This explains why the ruling party has been actively trying to counter the Opposition on the issue since any move that may cause consternation among the ruling party’s support base and feed into fears of the supporters of the Opposition parties is likely going to backfire just weeks ahead of polls.

Underlining the importance of the Nandini brand in popular culture in Karnataka is that over the decades the KMF has had popular actors such as Dr Rajkumar, Upendra, and Puneeth Rajkumar as brand ambassadors. The first dairy that went on to become KMF came into existence in 1955 in Kodagu district and by 1984 the popularity of the federation ensured that there were 14 district milk unions.

Meanwhile, signalling a shift from his party’s stance on the matter, Congress’s Thiruvananthapuram MP Sashi Tharoor on Sunday said in Bengaluru, “We all want to protect the Nandini brand. Nandini should be allowed to export to other states too. If we are too protectionist, we won’t be helping our national economy. But, at the same time, I understand the concerns of those who are working in Karnataka and contributing to the success of the Nandini brand. We have to take their needs to account as well.”