Under attack from the Aam Aadmi Party for “stalling” the door-to-door delivery of ration scheme envisaged by the Arvind Kejriwal government, the BJP charged the proposal is a jumla and the State government is controlled by ration mafia.

Union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Friday that the State government should not violate the Food Security Act and fair price ration shops are at its core. The Minister said such shops are part of the law and are accountable to people. “If grains are home-delivered, people will not get to know how much of it is going where and how much of it might have disappeared on the way,” he said.

However, the Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal said the States expect a cooperative attitude from the Centre. “People would like to see such a leadership at the Centre which does not fight with States on a daily basis. People want a leadership that takes everyone along. The country will progress only if the people, the State governments and the Centre work as a team,” Kejriwal said.

Prasad criticised the Delhi government for not implementing the “one nation, one ration card” scheme and ration shops in Delhi are not linked with electronic point of sale machine. “Grains at doorstep is very much a ‘jumla’ (rhetoric). The Delhi government is under the control of ration mafia. You want to break the law. You want to throw dust into the eyes of the people of Delhi. The central government procures and spends money on the scheme and you have to follow the law,” the Minister alleged.