During his ‘padayatra’ in Pathikonda constituency in Kurnool district on Thursday, YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy lambasted the Chandrababu Naidu government accusing it of harassing distressed farmers by registering cases and opening rowdy-sheets against them in a bid to shy away from its responsibility to compensate for crop losses on account of spurious seeds.
Mr. Reddy demanded withdrawal of the cases booked against farmers and initiate steps to recover the crop loss from spurious seed suppliers. He spoke over phone to the farmers who attempted suicide on Nunna police station premises in Krishna district.
The farmers gave vent to their hardship by stating that they incurred crop losses owing to spurious seeds and have been waging a struggle for nearly 18 months in vain. The Opposition leader advised the farmers to not commit suicide but be patient for an year and assured to pay them compensation of ₹2.30 crore if he formed the government.
He found fault with the Chandrababu Naidu government for targeting farmers and harassing them for staging ‘Chalo Assembly’ protest rather than safeguarding their interests.
The farmers told Mr. Reddy that they had represented to Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswar Rao several times, but to no avail. Krishna District Collector issued orders to pay compensation of ₹91,000 per acre, but the companies got the Collector’s orders cancelled, they said.
Muslims offered prayers and greeted Mr. Reddy.
He posed with a thambura when people of the nomadic tribe, Budagajangam, represented their demand for SC status to him .
