Hyderabad: The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) TRS and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress on Tuesday attacked each other over the ongoing contentious issue of paddy procurement by the BJP-ruled Centre from Telangana.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on March 23 had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to direct the Food Ministry to procure the entire paddy from the state during the current Rabi season. He also urged him to convene a meeting of agriculture experts and Chief Ministers to formulate a suitable national procurement policy.
The war of words began after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Tuesday in Telugu, blaming the TRS and the BJP for forgetting their ‘ethical responsibility’ regarding the issue. “Anti-farmer policies that are causing pain to the feeding hands of farmers should come to an end and every grain produced should be procured. Congress Party will keep fighting until the last grain is procured,” he wrote
#FightForTelanganaFarmers , he said on Twitter.
TRS MLC Kavitha Kalvakuntla responded to Rahul Gandhi after the latter said that the state and central governments were harassing farmers. She said that if he was actually sincere, he would support TRS and demand a “One nation one procurement” policy from the Centre.
Kavitha, who is the daughter of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said that instead of making his opinions known on Twitter for political gain, he should use his position as a member of the Parliament to support the TRS’ cause. “@trspartyonline’s MPs go to the parliament every day and protest,” she said.
Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao soon then mocked Rahul Gandhi and said calling his tweets as ‘fake love’ towards Telangana.
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy joined the bandwagon and responded to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks and said that he “knows nothing” about rice procurement. “he should first understand the issue, Centre & State’s role in rice procurement before putting it on social media. Centre spent Rs 26,600 cr in paddy procurement this year &ready to spend even Rs 30,000 crores,” ANI quoted Kishan Reddy.
The BJP led Centre and the Telangana government have been at odds over the heated paddy procurement issue.
The TRS government has warned to strengthen its agitation demanding the union government procure the entire stock of paddy during the ongoing Yasangi (Rabi) season.
The Centre continues to stand by the rhetoric that it is committed to procuring raw rice from the state as per the agreement reached between the state and the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
Follow on Twitter | Posted by P N Sree Harsha | 
