NEW DELHI, APRIL 25: The Left MPs staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha on Friday after failing to get an assurance from Food Minister Sharad Pawar to restore Kerala’s central foodgrain quota, which has been cut by nearly 90 per cent.

Asking a supplementary during Question Hour, CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury pointed out that Kerala’s foodgrain quota had been reduced from over one lakh tonne to 17,000 tonne.

“Please don’t penalise a state that has one of the most efficient and effective public distribution systems,” Yechury said, demanding that the quota cuts be restored, as was done in the case of Andhra Pradesh. “Don’t play politics on such an important issue,” he said.

Replying to the questions, Pawar said the quota was fixed on the basis of foodgrain collected by the states from the Centre in the previous years. He said the Andhra Government had been collecting its full quota despite surplus production in its own state while Kerala had not done so. This angered Yechury and his colleagues who asked for an assurance from the minister that the quota cuts would be restored this year.

When the minister failed to give any such assurance, the Left MPs staged a walkout.