Hyderabad: Describing the claims being made by TRS Government on agriculture growth as bogus, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & MP A Revanth Reddy accepted the challenge posed by Minister KTR for a debate on the issue.
He was addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Tuesday along with TPCC Political Affairs Committee Convener Mohammed Ali Shabbir, former Union Minister Balram Naik, Senior Vice-President Dr. Mallu Ravi, Kisan Congress Chairman Anvesh Reddy, General Secretary Nagesh Mudiraj, Mallareddy Ramreddy, Sudhir Reddy, Mettu Sai, and others.
The TPCC President said that he was ready for an open debate on what Congress Govt did from 2004-2014 and how TRS Govt brought agrarian crisis from 2014-2021 besides debating on how Congress-ruled states are doing better than TRS Govt in farmers’ welfare.
Revanth Reddy said that the TRS Govt did nothing in the last seven years when compared to what the Congress government did for the farmers from 2004-2014. He said that the congress regime took up several irrigation projects under Jala Yagnam programme. Pending works on projects like Nagarjuna Sagar and Jurala were completed while several new projects like Pranahita Chevella, Rajiv Sagar, Indra Sagar, Palamuru Rangareddy were taken up. Several major, medium, and minor irrigation projects were completed and upgraded to bring lakhs of acres of land under cultivation.
He said that the concept of free power for the agriculture sector was introduced by the congress party. “As the then Energy Minister Shabbir Ali was instrumental in implementing 7-hour quality power for free for the agriculture sectors in the entire undivided Andhra Pradesh. Later, the duration of free power supply was increased to nine hours,” he said.
The TPCC Chief KTR had claimed that the TRS Govt had spent Rs. 2.71 Lakh crore on the agriculture sector in the last seven years which includes Rs. 1.16 Lakh Crore on irrigation projects, Rs. 50,000 Crore towards Rythu Bandhu and Rs. 3,535 Crore to insurance companies. “If this was true, then why was the TRS government was not procuring the agriculture produce?” he questioned.
“On one side, the TRS Govt is claiming to have deposited Rs. 50,000 crore under Rythu Bandhu in farmers’ accounts. On the other hand, TRS Govt opened belt shops across the Telangana State and it collected over Rs. 1.45 lakh crore by selling liquor. common people, especially poor and middle-class, have been made habituated to liquor consumption. CM KCR has turned into an ambassador for drunkards, he alleged.” he said.
“Earlier Telangana was like a Tulasi forest. But TRS Govt has turned it into a cannabis forest,” he said while adding that he strongly suspected that Marijuana was being cultivated at KCR’s farmhouse in Gajwel. Referring to a claim made by CM KCR in the past that he earns Rs. 1 crore per acre, he asked the Chief Minister to transform his farmhouse into a tourist destination and create awareness among the farmers on which crops they should cultivate.
Referring to advertisements published in leading newspapers by the TRS Govt, he said the government itself claimed that over 75,000 farmers died from 2014-2018. “Why and how so many farmers died in four years? If 75,000 was the death toll in three-and-a-half years, then how many more would’ve died till now? Most of the farmers who died were aged between 18 and 58 years. Isn’t the KCR government responsible for the deaths of those farmers?” Revanth Reddy asked while alleging that TRS Govt has turned into a farmer killer.
“KTR has proved to be an inefficient minister. The performance of all departments like Municipal Administration, Information Technology, Panchayat Raj, and others being handled by KTR has been the worst. He knows nothing about what the previous Congress government did for the agriculture sector in Telangana. He was abroad most of the time and used to work in a restaurant in the USA before returning to Hyderabad,” he said.
The TPCC chief said he was ready for an open debate on all these issues at any time and place suggested by the Minister. He said the debate can be held at the Rythu Vedikas, Pragathi Bhavan, or the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial. He said that the Congress leaders would come for the debate if any media house organizes it. However, he advised KTR not to run away from the debate as he did in the past on the issue of drugs. “KTR should now behave like an adult and not like a school-going kid who goes to the teacher with small complaints. When we challenged KTR for a debate on drug abuse in Telangana, he went to the court to seek a stay. He should not do this again,” he advised.
Revanth Reddy reiterated that the Congress party was ready for an open debate on the agriculture sector and asked KTR to fix the venue and time.
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