Karnataka BJP blames Congress govt of favouring 'Kerala lobby' after Nandini stalls launch of dosa batter

Nandini – Karnataka’s flagship dairy brand is again caught in a controversy over delay in the launch of its whey-based idli and dosa batter. The state BJP leaders have alleged that the Congress government has yielded to pressure from private players to defer the launch (scheduled for November this year) of its new product in the ‘ready-to-cook and eat’ sector. But, the KMF chairman has claimed that the launch was deferred to protect the brand image of Nandini. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party has also questioned the “sudden” transfer of Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Limited’s Managing Director M.K. Jagadish at a time when the federation was preparing to launch the dosa batter. 

Karnataka Opposition leader R. Ashok, in his X post, demanded to know if “vested interests” were influencing the government. "The sudden transfer of the efficient KMF MD M.K. Jagadish, who was actively expanding the Nandini brand with high-demand products like ready-made idli-dosa batter raises doubts. Has the government caved to private companies’ demands to prevent the launch of Nandini products,” said Ashok. 

State BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra slammed the Congress for the “betrayal” and posted on X with the hashtag “Save Nandini”. 

"The same Congress that spun a fake narrative about Amul taking over Nandini, has come to power and is now destroying Nandini from within. KMF MD M.K. Jagadish, the driving force behind Nandini’s success, was abruptly transferred ahead of the launch of innovative products like idli/dosa batter. CM Siddaramaiah and DCM Shivakumar are hand-in-glove with the Kerala lobby and have sabotaged Nandini to protect private rival brands (like Kerala-based ID). A dedicated bureaucrat is being punished for doing his job well,” said Vijayendra, adding that Nandini, under the leadership of Jagadish had scaled new heights, sponsoring Indian Super League, Pro Kabaddi, and international cricket teams (Scotland and Ireland during the T20 World Cup) while expanding its market in Delhi and Dubai, and reviving its ties with Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (for supplying ghee for Tirupati laddu prasadam). 

The state government, in its December 2 order, replaced Jagadish with KAS officer B. Shivaswamy as the KMF MD stating it was being done in the “public and administrative interest”. However, Jagadish was shunted out without a posting. 

KMF chairman Bheema Nayak defended the government's decision to stall the dosa batter launch and said, “Six months ago, there was a proposal to outsource dosa batter from a private entity and package and market it under the Nandini brand. But it was rejected as we have another proposal to establish the manufacturing (production) unit at KMF,” said Nayak, adding the dosa batter issue and the MD’s transfer were not connected. 

Elaborating on the issue, Nayak said that the proposal to outsource the dosa batter was shelved as KMF would not have any control over the product quality. It could affect the brand name of ‘Nandini’ and we could not have risked it for a small monetary benefit. A similar issue had cropped up at Tirupati as the private ghee suppliers had outsourced the ghee (used for laddu prasadam). We did not want to take such a huge risk that could spoil Nandini’s image. We are looking at setting up our own dosa batter production facility,” said the KMF chief, adding that the Nandini brand had more than 160 different products and none of them had a quality issue. 

There are at least three major players in the 'ready-to-cook and eat' dosa batter market – ID (Bengaluru-based firm run by Keralites), MTR and Asal. ID is owned by Kerala native P.C. Musthafa.