Battle between Telangana government led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the Union government over the issue of paddy procurement has intensified into a war. After the loss of Huzurabad by-election, KCR has set up a direct fight with the Prime Minister Narender Modi government and has launched an attack demanding the Union government to come out with a paddy procurement policy for Telangana.
KCR has been vociferous about the Union government issuing a notice that it will not procure paddy from Telangana. With large quantity of paddy harvested and people waiting in vain for government to procure the produce, the state government has conveniently shifted the blame on centre. The CM has accused the centre of cheating farmers and all the loss that they facing now is the cause that the central government has done.
“Due to misrule and bad governance, the state has been witnessing large number of farmer suicides. The claim of having harvested 62 lakh acres of land with paddy is also a scam and this has to be thoroughly investigated. Without helping the farmers, in fact he has confused them by saying cultivate paddy, later saying no to paddy and asking them to cultivate cotton. Today the farmers in the state are in state of confusion and unable to make any decision,” state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bandi Sanjay Kumar countered the CM’s allegations.
The war of words grew between BJP and TRS which led both the party leaders hit the street. When TRS announced state-wide protest, BJP did the same one day ahead. The battle continued and KCR has been adamant in driving his point about paddy procurement. He has also written a letter to the PM and asked Modi to come out with a clear policy on procurement.
The dharna chowk has been witnessing a scurry of activity on Thursday for the second time within a week claiming to be waging a paddy war against the union government. This time, CM KCR is also participating in the “Maha Dharna”. Speaker after speaker are lashing out at the Modi government for showing step-motherly treatment towards the state. They will reiterate that the government would go to any extent and chase the government till it agrees to buy the entire crop as in the case of Punjab.
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According to Finance Minister T Harish Rao, the two-hour long Maha Dharna between 11 am and 2 pm is aimed at making the Union government realise the need to buy paddy during kharif and agree to buy the rabi crop as well. “The government is for the farmers whether in power or in opposition,” he said. After the dharna, a delegation of the party leaders will go to Raj Bhavan and submit a memorandum to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan requesting her to direct the central government to procure the entire crop in the state.
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