Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister and ruling TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday hit out at the BJP for allegedly spreading lies vis–vis social security pensions in the context of November 3 byelection to Dubbak Assembly segment in the state.
He said the state governments expenditure on pensions is between Rs 10,000 crore and Rs 11,000 crore every year but the amount given by the Centre is only Rs 105 crore.
The state government providespensions to over 38.64 lakh people with each person getting Rs 2,016 fordifferent categories of beneficiaries like senior citizens and widows but again the Centre gives pensions to only seven lakh people with each getting Rs 200, he said.
He said the BJP leaders claim the Centre is giving Rs 1,600 per person and that he would quit office if anybody proves him wrong.
The records of what he was saying were with CAG, he said.
Rao, speaking after inaugurating Rythu Vedika, a venue for farmers to discuss farm issues, at Kodakandla in Jangaon district, alleged that a Congress leader got a drama staged through someone by burning dry grass after harvesting paddy crop.
The Congress leader sought to spread false information thata farmer had to burn his crop after having suffered losses by cultivating sanna variety of paddy as per his (Rao’s) advice, he alleged.
The opposition parties were only focussed on getting votes, he said.
About the Rythu Vedikas, Rao said such venues do not exist anywhere in the world.
Stating that there has been no place for the farmers to discuss issues, he said the Rythu Vedikas are aimed at organising the farmers towards achieving a better deal.
He said 2,601 Rythu Vedikas are under construction in the state and that about 1,500 have been completed.
He alleged that the state governments are not allowed to provide subsidies to farmers and cited a reported order of FCI to all state governments that paddy should be purchased only for Rs 1,888 and that it would not be procured from the state if the price exceeded this amount.
Hitting out at the new farm laws brought in by the Centre, he alleged that the passage of the bills led to the produce being purchased for less than the MSP and that only the big businessmen benefited from this.
During his interaction with rice mill people, he said he was recently told that the produce was not being purchased for MSP following the new farm legislations as corn is being offered at a low price of Rs 1,500 by those from Uttar Pradesh and other states.
He said he would talk about the issue within the party and with other parties.
“If necessary, we have to tighten the fist and go for the battle, he said.
It is said about the farm legislation that the farmer can sell his produce anywhere in the country, but can the farmer from Telangana go to Delhi or vice-versa, he said.
Only big businessmen would take benefit under the new legislation as market committees, licence and others have been removed, he said.