Not a single farmer died by suicide in Congress rule: Ministers

The minister's press conference was to rebut the statement of BRS Chief K Chandrashekara Rao who said the details of 209 farmers, who died by suicide, were submitted to the Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari.

Hyderabad: Three senior ministers of the Congress government have argued that not a single farmer ended his life after their party came to power in Telangana and pooh-poohed the Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) charge that 200 farmers had died by suicide in the first 100 days of Congress rule.

At a joint press conference here on Saturday, three ministers, N Uttam Kumar Reddy (Irrigation), Jupally Krishna Rao (Tourism ) Ponnam Prabhakar (Transport) charged: “it is a blatant lie. Just like during the Telangana movement how people were instigated to commit suicides, the BRS is now inciting farmers to take extreme steps,”

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The minister’s press conference was to rebut the statement of BRS Chief K Chandrashekara Rao who said the details of 209 farmers, who died by suicide, were submitted to the Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari.

The BRS chief had inspected the withered crops at Jangoan, Suryapet and other places last week and demanded that the government release water to the fields for saving the standing crops. Subsequently, water was released from the Nagarjunasagar left canal.

However, at the Saturday press conference, Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Congress government was releasing water as per their plan and schedule. Efforts were being made to save maximum crops with minimum water supply. Nagarjunasagar water was released as Palair reservoir was completely dried up and only to ensure drinking water supply to Khammam and Suryapet but not out of BRS chief’s inspections fear, Reddy argued.

He was also very critical of the BRS chief and said people had taught a fitting lesson by defeating the party in the Assembly elections. Of the 39 BRS MLAs, about 20 to 25 MLAs were ready to join the Congress, he said. Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao said it was due to improper administration and poor planning by the BRS government, Telangana was facing drought like situation.

Alleging that there was rampant corruption in Mission Bhagiratha, the Minister said the BRS was getting jittery as the Congress government was fulfilling all promises made to the people. He also found fault with opposition parties for trying to politicize Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s frequent visits to New Delhi. “Not just 12 times, the Chief Minister will visit for 32 times, why are opposition leaders so upset,” Jupally Krishna Rao asked.