Telangana’s Finance Minister T. Harish Rao on Wednesday demanded Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal to tender an unconditional apology for “humiliating” the state delegation.
Harish Rao took strong exception to remarks made by Goyal about the delegation which had gone to Delhi to meet him on the issue of paddy procurement.
The state minister alleged that Goyal “insulted” Telangana by asking the state delegation whether they have no other work than meeting him.
Addressing a news conference, Harish Rao alleged that Goyal hurt the self-respect of 70 lakh farmers of Telangana.
He reminded the Union Minister that the delegation comprising six ministers and MPs had gone to the national capital on behalf of 70 lakh farmers and 4 crore people of the state.
ALSO READ: Give us written reply on paddy, rice: TS Ministers
He said the language used by Goyal was unbecoming of a central minister. “What right do you have to humiliate our ministers and the state,” Harish Rao asked.
The TRS leader alleged that the central minister was resorting to politics. “Our priority is farmers but your priority is politics,” he remarked.
Harish Rao said Goyal kept the state delegation waiting for three days for an appointment and first met a delegation of BJP leaders from the state.
ALSO READ: TRS holds statewide protests against Centre’s ‘anti-farmer policies’
Harish Rao also took exception to Goyal’s remarks blaming the state government for not procuring paddy from farmers.
He pointed out that the state government sent several letters to the Centre, requesting it to make all arrangements to lift the paddy stocks.
(This story has been sourced from a third-party syndicated feed, agencies. Raavi Media accepts no responsibility or liability for the dependability, trustworthiness, reliability, and data of the text. Raavi Media management/ythisnews.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content at its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.)
