Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday showered promises on farmers at an interactive session with them at Guntupalli on the city outskirts. A farmers’ budget would be introduced as soon as the TDP comes to power.
One-fourth of the general budget would be earmarked for the agriculture sector. The TDP was first toying with the idea of introducing a special budget for agriculture. The BJP government then introduced the same in Karnataka and it yielded desired results, he said.
The agriculture budget would lead to financial uplift of farmers and solve all their problems, he added. Referring to plight of chilli and sugarcane farmers, Mr. Naidu said farmers were not getting remunerative prices. Stressing on the need for special Boards for chilli and sugarcane, he said they would have to function on the lines of the Tobacco Board.
Referring to Pulichintala project, he said the TDP government had given all clearances, but the Congress government could not complete the project though it was in power for 9 years. Had it been completed, farmers in Krishna district would not have faced irrigation water scarcity.
The report of M.S. Swaminathan Committee had not seen the light of the day and was not even placed for discussion, he added. The farmers would benefit if the committee’s recommendations were implemented, he said. “I will go to any extent to bail out the farmers who are in distress. Agriculture would be made as profitable as possible, ” he said. Telugu Rythu Krishna district president Chalasani Anjaneyulu, Mylavaram MLA TDP district president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and others were present.
