KCR must quit as CM if he can’t bail out paddy farmers: Revanth

Government must offer MSP to alternate crops, like in Chhattisgarh, says TPCC chief

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Malkajgiri MP A. Revanth Reddy.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A. Revanth Reddy has said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao must quit if he cannot buy paddy from the farmers even if the Centre has refused to do so.

What is the use of his continuation if the CM himself threatens farmers not to cultivate paddy, he asked at a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. “Telangana, which is the rice bowl of India has ended up in a situation where the Chief Minister is threatening the farmers and this is nothing but inefficiency,” he said.

Mr. Reddy demanded that the government must assure minimum support price (MSP) if it was asking farmers to grow alternate crops. Congress government in Chhattisgarh not only ensured MSP to the farmers, but also provided a bonus when it suggested alternate crops, he said and asked KCR to follow the same.

Mr. Reddy alleged that KCR has the habit of going back on his assurances and he played similar stunts in the past by advising farmers against growing maize, sugarcane and cotton. Sugarcane farmers in Nizamabad, chilli farmers of Warangal and Khammam were humiliated when they asked for MSP while Girijan farmers in Khammam were implicated in false cases, arrested and chained, he recalled.

“The TRS government is claiming that it is spending ₹ 3 lakh crore to create irrigation facilities for 1 crore acres of land apart from free power and investment support through the Rythu Bandhu scheme. What is the use if the government is not willing to purchase the agricultural produce,” he asked and said the Chief Minister can’t disown the farmers just because he doesn’t have any agriculture policy.

The TPCC chief said both the BJP and TRS were in cahoots and playing politics over paddy procurement with an aim to push farmers towards corporate companies. Now the farmers will be forced to sell their crops to Adani and Ambani at whatever price they offer, he said.

He also accused that the TRS MPs were protesting in Parliament to disrupt it in order to avoid any discussion on the repeal of three farm laws and the demand from the Congress that compensation be paid to the farmers who died in the agitation.