Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada District Congress Committee president Padmaraj Poojary alleged that the BJP was attempting to mislead people over recent hikes in milk prices and public transport fares in the state.Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Poojary said the Congress would launch a district-wide campaign to counter the BJP’s allegations over the increase in milk prices and KSRTC bus fares. The party will hold press conferences across all its block units over the next four to five days and reach out to people through gram panchayats, he said.Questioning the BJP’s criticism of the milk price revision, Poojary alleged that the party was deliberately concealing the fact that the increase was intended to benefit milk producers.He said a consensus had been reached on the need to support dairy farmers facing difficulties, with the additional amount going directly to milk producers. He challenged BJP leaders to tell farmers if they opposed the additional payment.On the KSRTC fare revision, he accused the BJP of ignoring the impact of rising fuel prices on transport corporations.He claimed that the corporation’s debt had come down from around Rs 5,800 crore in 2023, when the BJP was in power, to Rs 5,300 crore under the Congress govt.Poojary accused the Union government of keeping petrol and diesel prices high despite a substantial decline in international crude oil prices. Citing decline in crude oil prices in several circumstances, he said that fuel was never made available at proportionately lower prices.He said Karnataka could consider cutting fuel taxes if the Centre released the state’s pending funds, and questioned Karnataka BJP MPs’ failure to press the Centre for the state’s dues. Turning to the BJP’s allegations of anarchy and foreign funding behind protests, Poojary questioned why the Union govt had not ordered an investigation if it had evidence of foreign funding.
