Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has alleged that all TRS ministers were emulating Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao in deceiving the people, especially farmers through false propaganda.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Monday, Uttam Kumar Reddy described the Nalgonda incident as unfortunate wherein Minister Jagadish Reddy entered into an argument, used unparliamentary language and resorted to personal attacks on him when he just questioned the status of crop loan waiver scheme and paddy procurement. He said TRS ministers have become habitual liars and speak in deceptive tone to protect themselves from accountability or any kind of criticism.
While having the argument, Jagadish Reddy even forgot that he was a minister. Stating that he himself had served as minister in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, he said he had never indulged in such behavior.
He said that CM KCR and his ministers believe only in self-praise and derives pleasure by making false claims. “Just by closing their eyes, they assume that no one is watching them. They don’t want anyone to identify their mistakes. They are in no mood to correct themselves. Making fake promises and false claims got inculcated in their culture,” he alleged.
The TPCC Chief asked as to why it was difficult for the State Government to waive off crop loans in a single take from the annual budget of Rs. 1.82 lakh crore. He said not a single rupee of crop loan has been waived although the TRS Government took charge for the second term one-and-a-half years ago. He pointed out that the Congress Government in Chattisgarh had waived off crop loans of over Rs. 11,000 crores within hours after taking charge. He alleged that the TRS Government did not waive off 100% crop loans even in the last term and only 80% were cleared just before the 2018 elections.
Reddy alleged that the State Government has been cheating the farmers on all issues. He said the implementation o the Rythu Bandhu scheme was erratic. He said that the scheme was meant to provide investment support to farmers at the beginning of the cropping season. But it is being treated as a reimbursement scheme where the majority of farmers are being paid money after the end of the season. Citing instances, he said in Nalgonda division, of Rs. 62 crore, only Rs. 35 crore was released to the farmers under the Rythu Bandu scheme. Similarly, for Rabi season, of earmarked Rs. 75 crore, only Rs. 50 crore has been released.
He alleged that the KCR Government was lying to farmers on all issues. He said instead of 1.4 Crore Metric Tonnes of paddy, only 50 tonnes were procured and of Rs. 30,000 Crore earmarked for procurement, only Rs. 10,000 crore was actually spent. He said farmers had a huge problem in selling cotton grown on nearly 4 lakh acres of land. This time, the State Government was forcing them to grow cotton on nearly 70 lakh acres. He said that the State Government should give a guarantee that the entire produce of cotton would be purchased before forcing the farmers to go for the crop.
The TPCC Chief said that CM KCR has made a false statement that Chattisgarh farmers were selling their crops in Telangana.
Reddy said that the TRS Government neither supported the Cannibis farmers nor it helped the turmeric farmers of Telangana. Similarly, he said Nalgonda’s Sweet lime farmers remained neglected by the government although Jagadish Reddy hails from the same district. He said there was no truth in the Chief Minister’s claims that his government has improved irrigation facilities since 2014. He said Telangana’s farmers used to do cultivation on 75 lakh acres of land even during the undivided Andhra Pradesh and the area remained the same during the last six years.
Uttam said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had granted statehood for Telangana as a gift to its people. However, he said except for KCR family, no other citizen gained from the formation of Telangana State.
