On Camera: FM Nirmala Sitharaman lambasts district collector in Telangana

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday publicly reprimanded the collector of Kamareddy district Jitesh Patil as she asked him the Centre's and the state's share of the rice in fair price shops.

"You are an officer of the Indian Administrative Service, belonging to the Telangana cadre...You are telling me the state is giving Rs 34? Excuse me! You want to think about your answer," the finance minister said.

A video of the incident has also gone viral on social media.

"You think about it and within half an hour before my address to the media give me the answer so that I can tell them that even if the Collector could not answer my question immediately,.. he struggled and got the information," Sitharaman said to the collector.

Prior to this, the minister seemed to be annoyed at the fact that the Centre is supplying free rice to the poor under the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Yojana to overcome the effects of COVID-19 and yet, flex boards carrying Prime Minister Modi’s picture did not find a place in fair price shops of Telangana.

During the inspection of a PDS ration shop in Birkoor, the Union Minister had asked Jitesh Patil as to why the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was missing there.

Sitharaman said since March-April 2020, the Centre has been providing rice priced at Rs 30-Rs 35 free of cost without the State government and the beneficiaries having to contribute anything.

Sitharaman was in the state attending various programmes in Zaheerabad Parliamentary Constituency as part of BJP's 'Lok Sabha PravasYojana'.