Congress Brought Drought To Telangana: KTR

Former minister and BRS working president K T Rama Rao demanded that the State government begin immediate measures to provide relief to the distressed farmers in the State.

KTR once again criticized the Congress government for its "mishandling" of the agricultural crisis in the State. He said that the looming agricultural crisis was the result of mismanagement by the present Congress government, and criticized the government for not prioritizing farmer issues and instead engaging in political activities.

He questioned the Chief Minister and his colleagues failing to visit the farmers and provide reassurance, and lamented that around 200 farmers had committed suicides due to the mismanagement of the agriculture issues by the Congress government and the apathy of the CM.

KTR also said that the Congress government was unable to provide quality free power to the farmers, whereas for the past 10 years every farmer had uninterrupted 24x7 free power. He challenged all the ministers who claimed that there were no power cuts in the State to visit the farmers in the fields and assert the same in front of them if they had the courage.

KTR also said that the drought-like situations in the State were brought by the Congress government and not by nature as the government claimed. He accused the Congress government of trying to portray KCR as a failed leader by labelling the Kaleshwaram project as a failure, when it was the government's negligence in repairing the Medigadda project that had led to the withering of lakhs of acres of crops.

He said that it was after KCR's field visit that the government turned apprehensive, and with the help of the same Kaleshwaram project's mega motors, started lifting water from the Nandi pump house and releasing it to the farmers in Karimnagar. He said that the same efforts should have been made earlier, and asked if 120 days were not enough to initiate repairs and provide irrigation water to lakhs of farmers. He demanded immediate relief measures for the distressed farmers in the State, and called for financial assistance of Rs 25,000 per acre for the farmers who had lost their crops due to lack of power and irrigation water supply.

KTR also personally visited the families of two farmers in Mushampally village in Nalgonda district, and extended a support of Rs 1 lakh to a farmer named Mallaiah Yadav. Yadav had lost crop grown over eight acres due to lack of water and power supply. A video by Yadav had gone viral on the social media a month ago. Reportedly moved by his anguish, KTR had promised that he would personally visit him soon.