Protests broke out across Telangana on Friday led by ministers and leaders of the ruling TRS in the state in response to party chief and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s demand for paddy procurement by the Center on the lines of Punjab. Information Technology and Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao launched a blitz against Narendra Modi Government and Bharatiya Janata Party leadership. “The Center is selling all PSUs and refusing to purchase paddy stock from the state,” he alleged.
Read also | Telangana CM did not ask to reduce VAT on petrol, diesel; Demand to withdraw Cess from Center
In response to a call by the chief minister, known as KCR, several ministers and Telangana Rashtra Samithi leaders stormed districts and revenue offices and staged protests.
The TRS protest came a day after the state BJP staged a protest in front of all district collectorates, demanding that the state government buy paddy completely from farmers instead of blaming the Centre.
“The Center has made it clear that it will buy 60 lakh tonnes. It is the responsibility of the state to procure the remaining amount,” said state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
At the protest site in Sircilla, KT Rama Rao (KTR) slammed BJP leaders at the Center and the state for “playing cheap politics”. “They cannot ignore the constitutional obligation to lift paddy and export it from the states,” he said. He found the blame on the Center and BJP leaders like captive Sanjay Kumar and others for adopting double standards on paddy procurement.
The minister, who is the son of the CM, said the refusal to take paddy from Telangana was shameful on the part of the Union ministers and the Centre. “When it comes to Punjab, the Center takes paddy and Telangana increasingly ignores it,” he said. Rao said, when the Center says “New Kisan” apart from selling to Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) they say “Jai Kisan”. They said. Said that the farmers’ protests and power and water disputes going on in some parts of the country were due to the insolvency and unilateral policies of the Centre. The Minister said that India is ranked 102 in the Global Hunger Index, far behind Nepal, Bangladesh. and Bhutan. The entire country has 400 crore acres and 65 tmc (thousand million cubic feet) of water, and half the resources are enough to solve the current issues, he said. The minister asked the farmers to think about why they had to come on the streets.
“Our farmers are growing around 30 million tonnes of food grains as 11 other states copied our programs and the Center also reiterated our Rythu Bandhu scheme,” KTR claimed.
He insisted that only Telangana state gives insurance of Rs 10,000 per acre to each farmer through Rythu Bandhu, Rs 5 lakh through Rythu Bhima and irrigate lakhs of acres of barren land by building Kaleshwaram project. He said that Sircilla region looks like a delta with abundant water as KCR has built irrigation projects. TRS will continue its fight for farmers till the Center procures paddy.
The minister targeted prisoner Sanjay for allegedly misleading the farmers. “The Center cannot cheat and deny the purchase of food grains,” he said, adding that the BJP leader supported the issue of paddy in the state.
KTR accused the BJP of raising Hindu-Muslim issues instead of doing positive politics. “The Center was ignorant of Telangana’s development and was deprived of funds for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya (water schemes) despite NITI Aayog’s recommendations,” he said.
State minister T Harish Rao accused the BJP leadership of betraying farmers cultivating light boiled paddy due to weather conditions. He urged the press officials of the Center to procure paddy from the state or face opposition.
At Indira Park in Hyderabad, State Animal Husbandry and Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav addressed a protest event. He warned that he has only started the “protest trailer” for now and will show the center “the entire film” in the future.
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here. follow us on Facebook, Twitter And Wire,
,