A staple on every Karnataka household's table just got sharply more expensive — and Union Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi is squarely blaming the state's Congress government for what he calls the biggest price shock in Karnataka's history, announced on Saturday, 31 October 2026.

Posting in Kannada on X, Joshi charged that the Karnataka Congress government had used the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) — the cooperative behind the widely consumed Nandini brand — to push through steep curd-price increases that he says are designed to paper over a depleted state treasury. 'ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಜನಸಾಮಾನ್ಯರ ಜೇಬಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನ ಹಾಕಿದೆ' ('The Congress government has picked the pocket of ordinary people'), he wrote.

The numbers: what KMF curd now costs

Joshi's post laid out the revised prices in precise terms. The 500-ml curd pack has reportedly moved from ₹28 to ₹34 — a jump of ₹6, or 21.43%. The one-litre pack has climbed from ₹54 to ₹68, an increase of ₹14, or 25.93%. These are the figures cited in the minister's post; NationPress has not independently verified them at the time of publication.

The timing sharpens the political sting. Joshi noted that the state government had already raised milk prices by ₹8 per litre just recently — making this curd revision a second blow to household budgets in quick succession. 'Curd is not a luxury item; it is daily food,' he wrote, framing the hike as a direct hit on poor and lower-middle-class families.

Fiscal mismanagement charge at the core of the attack

The minister's critique goes beyond consumer grievance. He argues the price revision is a symptom of deeper administrative failure — that the state has drained its coffers through what he terms economic misgovernance, leaving it no choice but to squeeze consumers through a cooperative it controls. 'A government that has emptied its treasury through administrative failure is collecting fines from the poor for its political mistakes,' Joshi wrote.

KMF is one of India's largest dairy cooperatives, procuring milk from hundreds of thousands of farmer-members across Karnataka and retailing under the Nandini label. Cooperative price revisions are typically driven by rising procurement costs, feed prices, and operational expenses — though state governments have a decisive say in the timing and quantum of retail hikes. Opposition leaders across India have long used such revisions as a cudgel against ruling parties on cost-of-living, and Karnataka's BJP-Congress contest is no exception.

BJP-Congress battle lines over Karnataka's cost of living

Joshi's broadside fits a well-worn but politically potent pattern. The BJP, now in opposition in Karnataka, has consistently sought to frame the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government's fiscal position as unsustainable — pointing to the cost of the state's flagship 'guarantee' welfare schemes as straining public finances. The Congress, in turn, argues those schemes directly benefit the poor.

Whether KMF or the state government responds formally to Joshi's charges, and whether the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs — which Joshi himself heads — takes any formal note of the revision as a matter of essential commodity pricing, will be the next signals to watch. A minister attacking a state government's consumer-price decision while simultaneously overseeing the national consumer-affairs portfolio adds an institutional edge to what might otherwise be a routine political salvo.