Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday announced that the Congress party would intensify its agitation until BJP Govt at the Centre and TRS Govt in Telangana purchase every grain produced by farmers at Minimum Support Prices (MSP).
Addressing a massive protest rally at Suryapet District headquarters, Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed the BJP and TRS Governments for their anti-farmer policies. “While Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government brought three new laws to deprive MSP for agriculture produce, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao decided to shut down IKP and PACS centers in Telangana to leave farmers with no option but to sell their produce at throwaway prices to a few corporate sectors.
These new laws and decisions of BJP and TRS Govts would smother the entire agriculture and related sectors while benefiting a few corporates like Adanis and Ambanis. This will also lead to huge inflation and impact each and every common man in the near future, he said.
He said that the Congress party was holding a dharna at District Headquarters across the country to support the agitation by farmers which entered 47th day on Monday. He said that the Modi Government has turned so unsympathetic that it was just dragging the talks on one pretext or the other. He said nearly 70 farmers died to suicide and extreme weather conditions in Delhi. He pointed out that even the Supreme Court has expressed displeasure over the way the Centre was handling the farmers’ agitation. He said that the BJP Government should repeal the controversial laws immediately and accept all the demands raised by agitating farmers.
The TPCC Chief strongly condemned CM KCR for the decision of removing IKP centers and single-window Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS) centers which were started by the previous Congress regime in 2004 to ensure procurement of entire agriculture produce by farmers. He said that CM KCR should stop considering Telangana as his ‘Jagir’ (fiefdom) and implement anti-farmer decisions. Further, he slammed CM KCR for stating that the State Government suffered a loss of nearly Rs. 7,500 crore last season due to procurement of agriculture produce. He said when the State Government could spend nearly Rs. 10 lakh crore in the budget during the last 6-7 years, how it could describe spending of Rs. 7,500 crore on farmers as a loss.
Reddy also demanded that CM KCR fulfill the promise of waiving off crop loans up to Rs. 1 lakh on an immediate basis which he promised in the 2018 Assembly elections. He said that the TRS Government has cheated the farmers in a similar fashion after winning the 2014 elections. It split the loan waiver into four installments and did not help the farmers in any way in coming out of the debt trap. Similarly, he said, even after two years, the TRS Govt was yet to fulfill the promise of waiving off crop loans. He also condemned CM KCR for the non-availability of crop insurance. He said lakhs of farmers lost their crops due to adverse seasonal conditions and other factors in the last 6-7 years. But none of them got a single rupee towards crop insurance claims, he said.
The TPCC Chief described BJP and TRS as the two sides of the same coin and alleged that both were pursuing anti-farmer policies in perfect sync. He said TRS has been supporting the BJP Govt in all its decisions since the beginning. Citing instances, he said TRS supported PM Modi’s move on demonetization, GST and NITI Aayog, the election of President of India, Vice President, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, and passing of all controversial laws. He said TRS and BJP were following the policy of ‘Galli Mein Kushti, Delhi Mein Dosti’. He said the understanding and friendship between the TRS and BJP were no more a secret.
He said that the claims of BJP growing stronger in Telangana were only hype and their bubble would burst soon. He said that the BJP has won a few seats in GHMC elections by inciting communal feelings. However, he said BJP’s strategy would not be effective in the future as people have realized it was a secret ally of TRS and MIM.
Reddy announced that former CLP leader K. Jana Reddy would be the Congress candidate for Nagarjuna Sagar by-elections. He expressed confidence that Jana Reddy would win the by-elections with a thumping majority. He appealed to the entire party cadre of Suryapet district to campaign for the Congress party in the by-election. He also expressed confidence in the Congress party winning the elections for Khammam and Warangal municipal corporations.
SOURCE-NSS
