Major Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao ridiculed the claims of YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy that lands taken away by force from farmers for the capital would be returned to them, if his party came to power.
At a media conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said that Mr. Jaganmohan was “day dreaming” about coming to power.
“Thousands of acres were taken away by force from poor farmers when Mr. Jagan’s father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister. When farmers had tried to protest against the land acquisition, the government had opened fire on them. How can Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy, who remained silent then, make noise now? Farmers were never given a package like the one being offered for the land pooling, in the history of the State,” the Minister said.
The YSR Congress president was now sounding more like a person “conspiring to topple the State government” than the leader of Opposition, the irrigation Minister alleged.
