Bhubaneswar, Jan 18: The ruling BJD and Opposition BJP resorted to a blame game over paddy procurement on Monday after the former claimed that the Centre is not purchasing the surplus rice procured by the Odisha government.

Addressing a press meet at the party headquarters here, senior leaders of BJD MLAs Rohit Pujari, Snehangini Chhuria and Rajendra Dholakia said in the past years, Odisha has doubled farmers’ income and increased crop production to become one of the top four contributors of rice to India’s Public Distribution System (PDS).

However, the Centre recently sent a letter stating that they would limit the lifting of parboiled rice to the extent of 50 percent of the original estimates and would not accept any surplus parboiled rice during Rabi season 2020-21.

This anti-farmer decision by the Centre will severely affect the farmers of Odisha, feared the BJD leaders.

Refuting the allegations, BJP state general secretary Lekhashree Samantsinghar fired salvo on the ruling party in the state and said the Centre purchases rice from states through agreements.

The state governments purchase the surplus amount on its own and all other states in the country are doing so.

“The Centre is pumping huge funds into the state for farmers’ welfare. But the state government is neglecting the farmers,” she countered.