BJP playing havoc with lives of farmers: KTR

Sircilla: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao, exposing the deliberate attempts being made by the BJP government at the Centre and the saffron party’s State leadership to mislead Telangana farmers, said they were playing havoc with the lives of farmers in the State. “On one hand, State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar […]

Sircilla: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao, exposing the deliberate attempts being made by the BJP government at the Centre and the saffron party’s State leadership to mislead Telangana farmers, said they were playing havoc with the lives of farmers in the State.

“On one hand, State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar and union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy goaded farmers to cultivate as much paddy as they wanted with the assurance that it would be purchased by the Centre, and on the other, the union government is bluntly refusing to procure paddy from Telangana under one pretext or the other,” Rama Rao said.

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Participating in a dharna here on Thursday to protest against the union government’s refusal to procure Yasangi paddy from Telanagana, the Minister pointed out that the State government had urged farmers in the State to go for crop diversification and focus less on paddy in the wake of the Centre’s refusal to buy paddy from Telangana. “These BJP leaders, however, misled the farmers and asked them to cultivate paddy with the promise that each and every grain would be procured by the Centre. After this politically mischievous move, both Sanjay and Kishan Reddy are tight-lipped on the issue,” he said.

Rama Rao said union Food and Civil Supplies Minister Piyush Goyal, adding insult to injury, had the audacity to suggest that the people of Telangana should start consuming broken rice. “The day is not far when Goyal and the Narendra Modi government will be chased away by the people,” he said.

Training his guns on Modi, the Minister said Telangana farmers were leading dignified lives after the State government took several initiatives for their welfare and economic empowerment. “Modi, who promised to change the lives of farmers before coming to power, however, has cheated the farming community by refusing to purchase paddy,” he said, adding that cheating the people has become the norm for Prime Minister.

On the Centre’s refusal to purchase boiled rice in the absence of demand for it, he pointed out that every year, about one crore metric tons of boiled rice was being exported to 80 to 90 countries. Goyal has been mouthing such blatant lies to cheat the people of Telangana, he said.

Demanding the union government to purchase paddy as was the practice followed by the previous governments, Rama Rao asked the people to burn effigies of the Central government in every village on April 8. “The entire State Cabinet will stage a dharna in New Delhi on April 11,” he said.

On hike in fuel prices, Rama Rao said that the entire country – from galli to Delhi – was discussing the abnormal hike in prices of diesel, petrol and cooking gas. “In 2014, the price of a barrel of crude oil in the international market was $105 and at that time, the price of petrol and diesel was Rs 70 and Rs 53 respectively. Though crude oil price is the same now, petrol price shot up to Rs 120. The price of an LPG gas cylinder, which was available at Rs 410 eight years ago, crossed Rs 1,000. The common people are facing severe hardships due to increase in prices of petroleum products,” he asserted.

Before coming to power, Modi made tall promises such as changing the lives of people, doubling farmers’ incomes, giving priority to poverty elimination, among others. “Instead of delivering on his promises, Modi has been cheating the people in the name of Chai Pe Charcha,” he added.

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