The two-day ‘Vari Deeksha’ (protest for paddy) of the Telangana Congress at the Dharna Chowk was aggressive in its action with the leaders offering to solve the crisis if the government was unable to, and also accusing Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of surrendering to the Centre and going silent since his Delhi visit.
The protest also saw the top leadership of the Congress, including TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, V. Hanmantha Rao, Ponnala Lakshamaih and Ponnam Prabhakar, participating while the surprise participant was Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkata Reddy, who had shared the stage with Mr. Revanth Reddy for the first time since the former was made TPCC chief.
The leaders will spend the night at the protest camp itself to send a signal of confidence to the farmers who had been sleeping at the IKP centres, market yards and the threshing yards for weeks, Mr. Revanth Reddy said. Launching a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, he said KCR and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were together in cheating farmers. “KCR has not even sought appointment with the PM during his New Delhi visit and instead was partying at the residence of Rajya Sabha MP K.R. Suresh Reddy.”
He said procurement should have been completed at the start of November but so far only 8 lakh tonnes of paddy had been procured. In the Congress-ruled Punjab 1.19 crore tonnes of paddy was already procured, he said, adding that the government did not have neither a plan nor concern but was only interested in politics. He warned that Congress would not leave the BJP and TRS till the last grain was procured as promised.
Mr. Revanth Reddy offered to solve the crisis if the government was willing to earmark ₹10,000 crore, which was a meagre amount for a ‘rich state.’ “We will give additional bonus of ₹500 apart from the MSP of ₹ 1,960 per quintal.”
Former PCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Centre fixed a target of procuring 500 lakh tonnes of rice all over the country and Telangana was given a target of 40 to 60 lakh tonnes. So far only 8 lakh tonnes had been purchased. Other states like Punjab with 1.13 crore tonnes, Uttar Pradesh with a target of 47 lakh tonnes, Odisha with 43 lakh tonnes, and Chattisgarh and Haryana with 40 lakh tonnes each were way ahead of Telangana.
Senior leaders G. Chinna Reddy, Sircilla Rajaiah, Kodanda Reddy, Mallu Ravi, Anvesh Reddy, Sunita Rao and Anil Kumar Yadav were among those present.
