TRS questions Rahul Gandhi’s motives before his Telangana visit

Hyderabad: Upping the ante against the Grand Old Party, the TRS on Thursday questioned the purpose of former Congress chief and MP Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Telangana. While Congress leaders have been claiming that Rahul Gandhi would be addressing farmers at Rythu Sangharshana meeting in Warangal, the TRS leadership dismissed the visit as just ‘political […]

Hyderabad: Upping the ante against the Grand Old Party, the TRS on Thursday questioned the purpose of former Congress chief and MP Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Telangana. While Congress leaders have been claiming that Rahul Gandhi would be addressing farmers at Rythu Sangharshana meeting in Warangal, the TRS leadership dismissed the visit as just ‘political tourism’ since the former Congress president had never visited the State when scores of farmers committed suicide under the decade-long UPA regime.

In an open letter to Rahul Gandhi, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy hit out at the Congress for ignoring the plight of farmers during its decade-long rule at both the Centre and in Telangana. “It is impossible to list out the failures of the Congress governments which did not address or even acknowledge the woes of farmers over the years, in a single letter. But one must be reminded that over 1.58 lakh farmers got entangled in debts and committed suicide as per the data furnished by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB),” he said.

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The Minister stated that the Congress has the blood of scores of farmers on its hands as its successive governments ignored them for decades since independence. While some farmers got electrocuted, others died after getting bitten by venomous snakes in the darkness due to erratic power supply before formation of Telangana.

“Farmers were shot dead for demanding that the then Congress governments purchase their maize crop or distribution of government land for cultivation. People still remember the killings at Mudigonda. But, none of the Congress leaders are ready to admit these crimes. Rahul Gandhi must apologise to the farmers for all the injustice caused to them by successive Congress governments, before stepping into Telangana,” he demanded.

Niranjan Reddy accused the Congress leaders of trying to stall construction of irrigation projects in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and after State formation, for their political mileage. He also slammed them for writing letters to the Centre against the irrigation projects taken up by the Telangana government as well as the construction of the upcoming 4,000 MW Yadadri Thermal Power Plant.

“Rahul Gandhi should first clarify the Congress’ stand on these irrigation and power projects which are beneficial to farmers in the State. If the Congress leaders continue to resort to such destructive politics for political mileage, the farmers of Telangana will never forgive them,” he added.

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