Congress Appeals To Farmers To Participate In Chalo Assembly

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N Uttam Kumar Reddy appealed to the farmers and Congress workers from across the state to participate in the Chalo Assembly rally to be held on October 27, the first day of Assembly session.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday, Reddy said that the Chalo Assembly rally would be taken out in a democratic and peaceful manner. He said that the agitation was being organized to expose the "indifferent attitude" of the TRS government towards farmers.

Justifying the timing of the Chalo Assembly rally, he said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had never honoured the promises that he made to the farmers on multiple occasions on the floor of the Assembly, and that was why it was opportune that the rally happen when the CM was in the Assembly.

He said that the conditions for the farming sector had turned so bad that thousands of farmers had committed suicides during the last three years. Describing the farmers' suicides as "institutional murders", he slammed the Chief Minister and other ministers for not even making a mention of those suicides in their statements.

He said that the state government did not pay compensation to the family of a single one of the farmers who had committed suicides. And instead of being apologetic, the TRS leaders were shamelessly blaming the previous Congress regime for the present suicides, he said.

Reddy said that the crop loan waiver scheme implemented was highly erroneous and did not benefit the farmers. He said that despite giving an assurance on the floor of the Assembly more than twice, the Chief Minister did not take steps to pay the interests that had gotten accumulated on the loans due to the split of the waiver scheme into four installments. He said that there were still thousands of farmers the last installments of whose loan waivers had not yet reached their bank accounts.

Condemning Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao's criticism of the Chalo Assembly rally, he asked the minister to clarify whether or not the Chief Minister should be held accountable for the commitment that he made on the floor of the House.

The TPCC chief also condemned the TRS government for not paying any compensation to the farmers who lost their crops due to natural calamities. He said that the drive to modernize agriculture had gotten confined to the distribution of tractors among TRS workers. The government did not even enumerate the damages caused to the crops due to recent heavy rains, he lamented. He said that only hollow statements were being issued by the TRS ministers about the purchase of damaged cotton, and no actual purchases were being done. He said that the government should enumerate the overall losses and pay compensation of Rs. 25,000 per acre for cotton and Rs. 15,000 per acre for paddy farmers. He demanded that the government also pay an additional Rs. 1,000 besides hammali charges to the affected farmers.

Reddy said that the Congress party was all set to return to power in 2019. He promised that the next Congress government would waive off crop loans up to Rs. 2 lakhs in a single installment. Further, it would ensure higher MSP and remunerative prices for all crops. He said that an additional bonus of Rs. 2,000 per quintal would be paid for paddy and maize while cotton farmers would be paid an additional Rs. 5,000 per quintal of their produce. He also said that the government itself would pay the premium for crop insurance schemes.

Stating that the TRS government was trying to foil the proposed Chalo Assembly agitation, he warned the ruling party leaders against creating obstacles in the program. He said that the farmers and Congress workers would assemble at Gandhi Bhavan at 9 am on October 27 and would march towards the Assembly.

Earlier Reddy, along with TPCC Vice-President Mallu Ravi, Kisan Cell chairman Kodanda Reddy and other leaders, held a review meeting on the preparations for the rally.

CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy also asked his party activists to see that the Congress-proposed Chalo Assembly program became a big success.