HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) cadre from ward members in gram panchayats to cabinet ministers will hit the streets in the state and New Delhi seeking a solution to the paddy procurement issue by exerting pressure on the Centre.
TRS working president and industries minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday announced a five-pronged plan of action as part of which the ruling party would intensify its agitation from Monday onwards demanding that the Centre procure every grain of paddy produced in the yasangi season in Telangana.
On April 4, the TRS members along with farmers would take up relay hunger strikes in all mandal headquarters. On April 6, rasta-roko would be organised on the four National Highways of Hyderabad-Vijayawada, Hyderabad-Mumbai, Hyderabad-Nagpur and Hyderabad-Bengaluru.
On April 7, protest demonstrations would be organised at all district headquarters, except Hyderabad, and on April 8 black flags would be raised on every house in all the 12,769 gram panchayats.
On April 11, all elected representatives of TRS, including ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Mayors, ZP chairpersons, chairmen of corporations, Rythu Bandhu convenors and all other elected representatives, would stage a demonstration in New Delhi.
Continuing his aggressive attack against BJP, KTR sought to expose the contradictory statements being made by the BJP Telangana leaders and that by Union minister Piyush Goyal. "TRS is in no mood to relax until a solution is found to the paddy procurement issue," he said.
The TRS working president also played an audio of Union minister Piyush Goyal, who asserted that the central government would not buy paddy from Telangana. Then, he played the audio clip of BJP Telangana president Bandi Sanjay calling upon the farmers to cultivate paddy assuring that every grain produced by them would be purchased. "We will continue to expose the contradictory statements of BJP leaders that are leaving the farmers worried. Even the statements of Union minister G Kishan Reddy on paddy would be exposed during TRS agitations," KTR said.
Stating that the TRS government had appealed to the farmers not to cultivate paddy but to go for alternate crops in yasangi, the TRS leader pointed out that Bandi Sanjay instigated the farmers to cultivate paddy.
"Why is Bandi Sanjay not coming to the rescue of farmers now? Even Kishan Reddy said the central government will continue the practice of purchasing parboiled or raw rice from farmers. TRS is not going to spare these galli leaders and those in Delhi for leaving the farmers worried," KTR said and demanded that there should be "one policy for procurement like one nation one ration." KTR sought to ask who would purchase the paddy as the Centre was saying it would not procure it and called upon the farmers and the party cadre to take part in the protests.
