Hyderabad: The Telangana government has initiated the rollout of the final phase of the Telangana farmers’ loan waiver for outstanding amounts between Rs 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh on Thursday, August 15, as promised by chief minister A Revanth Reddy. With this, the chorus for the resignation of Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao has been growing.
After depositing Rs 5,644 crore into the loan accounts of 4,46,832 lakh farmers at the public meeting held at Wyra on Thursday, Revanth Reddy and his entourage demanded Harish Rao’s resignation as Siddipet MLA.
Addressing the public meeting, Revanth Reddy even demanded Harish Rao to go to the Martyrs Memorial at Gun Park and tender an apology to the people of the state, withdraw the challenge he had posed to the Congress government on the farm loan waiver, and concede that Congress was a party that wouldn’t go back on its promise. He asked BRS leaders criticising the Congress government’s farm loan waiver to dive inside a lake and die.
While demanding Harish’s resignation, Revanth expressed confidence in defeating the former if a by-election was held in the Siddipet constituency.
The senior BRS leader T Harish Rao, earlier in April, had visited the Martyrs Memorial (Gun Park) in the city and issued his resignation letter to media personnel, displaying his readiness to resign as an MLA if CM Revanth Reddy fulfils the Congress party’s farm loan waiver promise by August 15.
Revanth Reddy reminded the farmers that the Congress government was waiving off loans amounting to Rs 31,000 crore as promised by the party in its ‘Farmers’ Declaration’ at the ‘Rythu Sangharshana Sabha’ held in Warangal on May 6, 2022, in the presence of Rahul Gandhi.
Revanth said that Congress was the only government which created a record by allocating Rs 31,000 crore for waiving off farm loans of 32.50 lakh farmers in the state.
“The situation of BRS is like a beggar sitting in the Jubilee Hills bus stand now. They haven’t won a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections and have lost deposits in seven segments. If you all support us, we will demolish BRS and bury BJP,” Revanth quipped.
Deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka threw another challenge to BRS on the occasion, saying his party leaders were ready for a debate on the Congress’ government’s eight-month rule on agriculture, irrigation and welfare schemes, to discuss the government’s efforts for Telangana.
However, it is pertinent to note that so far the Congress government has spent Rs 17,934 crore for Telangana farmers loan waiver. The money has been deposited in the banks of 22,37,848 farmers.
Congress’ farm loan waiver in three phases so far
| Loan amount | Date | No of loan accounts | Total loan amount waived off |
| Up to Rs 1 lakh | July 18 | 11,50,193 | Rs 6,034 crore |
| Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh | July 30 | 6,40,823 | Rs 6,190 crore |
| Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh | August 15 | 4,46,832 | Rs 5,644 crore |
| Grand total | Till August 15 | 22,37,848 | Rs 17,934 crore |
