Why give Re 1 Kg rice, when people drink tea 5 times a day?

The irrepressible J.C. Diwakar Reddy, TDP MP, courts controversy like the duck takes to water. The latest controversial statement he has made is a demand for scrapping the Rs.1 a kg welfare rice scheme for the people below the poverty line. "Why give them Rs.1 kg rice when they drink tea five times a day?" Diwakar Reddy questioned. Participating in the Janmabhumi programme at Belugappa in Anantpur district on Wednesday, Diwakar Reddy made it clear that he was against all welfare programmes. It's a matter of wonder then that he could survive as a representative of the Congress for so many years. The Congress had won one election after another by offering sops to people and the MP himself had benefited by riding on welfare schemes. Is it that he now believes in capitalism after leaving the Congress behind? Referring to the Polavaram project, the completion of which is a necessary condition under the AP Reorganisation Bill splitting the combined Andhra Pradesh, Diwakar Reddy said it would not be completed in time. He had been hearing about it since childhood. He cannot believe its completion. The TDP MP further said he was not going to get ministership in the TDP Ministry. In fact, he had jocularly asked Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu whether at least death would get him ministership. He remarked he was not destined to become a minister. He did not have the luck, Chandrababu had it and so became Chief Minister again.