Vice-chairman of the State Planning Board B. Vinod Kumar has observed that the agriculture policy declared and being implemented by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in Telangana was repeated by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the name of Warangal declaration.
He stated that the agriculture policy of Telangana was a role model for the country and that was the reason why several other State governments and the Centre were emulating it by extending schemes similar to those conceived by Telangana in different names. In a statement issued on Saturday, Mr. Vinod Kumar said that there was nothing new in the Warangal declaration of the Congress.
Stating that the Telangana government was already implementing schemes such as Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, and life insurance cover of ₹5 lakh to all farmers aged below 60 years, he said that Mr. Gandhi had announced similar schemes as part of his party’s declaration.
“Stern action against spurious seed, pesticide and fertilizer sellers, including invoking Preventive Detention Act, was already being implemented in Telangana, which Mr. Gandhi had included in the Warangal declaration,” the Planning Board VC said. The Congress talk on scrapping the Dharani portal brought for digitalisation of land records was smacking of its intentions to bring back the ‘Patwari’ system, he observed.
He blamed the Congress for closure of several industries in the State, including Nizam Sugars, and sought to know why the Congress government did not revive the units during 2004-14 period.
Meanwhile, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development T. Srinivas Yadav and legislators Danam Nagender and Maganti Gopinath sought clarity from the Congress on whether the Warangal declaration was only for Telangana or for the entire country and whether the Congress was going to implement it in States under its rule. They reminded the Congress leadership that MSP was a Central subject.
At another press conference, TRS legislators K. Vidyasagar Rao and A. Jeevan Reddy alleged that the Congress government in the past had mined money in the name of Jalayagnam and mobilisation advance.
