Teangana BJP floor leader and MLA G. Kishen Reddy on Thursday alleged that the four instalment-crop loan waiver scheme by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government was a cause for farmer suicides in the State.
The BJP leader said the incumbent leadership was blatantly anti-farmer in its attitude.
"The scheme only added to farmers’ burden by way of bank interests. As the farmers' passbooks are kept in banks, they are forced to borrow from private money lenders at high interests," he alleged.
The waiver instalment was not successful anywhere in the country.
He was addressing farmers, partymen and women at a Rythu Deeksha organised by the district Kisan Morcha, the BJP's farmer wing outside the collectorate complex here.
Mr. Reddy went on to launch his attack by saying the government has not implemented well the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the Centre's crop insurance scheme.
"Of the 56 lakh farmers in the State, only 1.5 lakh farmers enrolled," he quoted.
Showing a PMFBY brochure, he said the TRS has neither recognised the Centre's commitment to farmers nor gave the Prime Minister the due credit, by not printing his picture. " Sommakaridhi Soku Okaridhi ," he jibed.