Amul vs Nandini: ‘Kannadigas will never sell thier self respect,’ DKS asserts

Senior Congress leader and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar visited a Nandini store on Monday at Hassan during the election campaign and shopped for milk products. He also said that the Nandini brand is a symbol for the self-esteem of Karnataka’s farmers.

Also Read - Amid Amul vs Nandini row, Amit Malviya's ‘not entering Karnataka’ tweet

DK Shivakumar wrote, “Visited Hassan's Nandini store today and bought milk products. The BJP government is trying to hijack the Nandini brand which is a symbol of self-esteem of our farmers and Kannadigas. But let the BJP government remember this, Kannadigas will never sell their self-respect.”

Last week, the Amul company announced that they are set to sell milk and curd in Bengaluru, and it faced severe backlash from the opposition parties. Karnataka’s former CM Siddaramaiah also alleged that the BJP government is trying to sell the state to the businessmen of Gujarat. On Sunday, he tweeted, “Prime Minister @narendramodi avare, Is your purpose of coming to Karnataka to give to Karnataka or to loot from Karnataka? You have already stolen banks, ports & airports from Kannadigas. Are you now trying to steal Nandini (KMF) from us?”

He also alleged that Amul is trying to eat at the home grown Nandini brand. “It was Gujarat's Baroda Bank that subsumed our Vijaya Bank. Ports & Airports were handed over to Gujarat's Adani. Now, AMUL from Gujarat is planning to eat our KMF (Nandini),” added Siddaramaiah.

Meanwhile, Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said that Congress is just trying to gain political mileage out of this issue and clarified that Amul will never replace Nandini in Karnataka but both brands will co-exist. He also clarified that the home grown Nandini brand doesn’t face any threat from anyone.