BRS escalates protests over fertilizer crisis; Demands 15-day Assembly session to debate farm sector distress

The BRS launched protests in Hyderabad and across Telangana demanding a special 15-day Assembly session on the urea shortage, irrigation problems and farmer suicides. Led by KT Rama Rao, the protests saw BRS legislators arrested as farmers continued their statewide agitation

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has intensified its confrontation with the Congress-led Telangana government, launching symbolic protests and demanding a 15-day special Assembly session to address the deepening urea shortage, irrigation problems and rising farmer suicides. While farmers staged demonstrations across the State, BRS leaders organised peaceful protests within the lobbies of the Assembly as well as outside its corridor in solidarity with them on Saturday.

Escalating its protests against the urea crisis, BRS leaders led by working president KT Rama Rao staged a symbolic “urea protest” at Gun Park, with empty fertiliser bags to highlight the acute shortage affecting the State’s agricultural sector. Addressing the gathering, he criticised the Congress government for forcing farmers into long queues to secure basic inputs like urea, a situation he said was unthinkable during the BRS’s decade-long rule.

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“Farmers are leaving their footwear and Aadhaar cards to hold their place in line. This is the Congress’s gift to Telangana’s farmers – humiliation and despair,” he said, accusing the government of incompetence and neglect. The protest extended beyond Gun Park, with BRS legislators staging a dharna at the Agriculture Commissioner’s office in Hyderabad, where they submitted a memorandum demanding immediate fertiliser supplies. When their demands went unanswered, the agitation moved to the Telangana Secretariat’s main gate, where it was met with police action.

Several BRS legislators were arrested during the peaceful protest, prompting the party to condemn the Congress government for resorting to repression instead of addressing the crisis.

“This government is more interested in silencing elected representatives than solving farmers’ problems,” the BRS MLAs said.

Earlier, speaking at Gun Park, Rama Rao called for a 15-day special Assembly session to debate critical issues, including the fertiliser shortage, irrigation challenges and the alarming rise in farmer suicides. He claimed farmer suicides had crossed 600 in recent months under Congress rule.

“The Congress promised Six Guarantees but has delivered only misery. Farmers are on the streets, students are waiting for fee reimbursements, and the government is hiding behind excuses,” he charged.

The BRS protests added fuel to the already charged atmosphere in the State, with farmers hitting the roads in almost every district denouncing the failure of the State government to ensure timely supply of fertilisers.

With the Assembly session commencing on Saturday, the BRS pledged their support to the farmers. The party leaders assured them of every possible step to keep the pressure on and promised to expose what it called a disastrous collapse of governance and a betrayal of Telangana’s people by the Congress government.