Telangana irrigation minister T Harish Rao today lashed out at the Congress for its provocative attacks against the ruling party over the farmers' suicides in the State.
Talking to mediapersons on Wednesday, Rao accused the Congress of organizing padayatras only to protect its leaders from changing Parties.
"The tours of the Congress leaders are irrelevant and will not have any impact on the people," he said, adding that the Congress leaders had no moral right to fault the TRS government.
The minister claimed that the kin of 53 farmers who had committed suicides during the previous Congress regime were given ex gratia by the TRS government on humanitarian grounds, and likened the Congress leaders' hue and cry over the farmers' suicides to the Devil quoting the Scriptures, given that the Congress had done "nothing" when it was in power for decades.
"The Congress ruled the State for almost six decades, and did not bother to construct irrigation projects to find a lasting solution to the problems of farmers in the Telangana region," he charged.
Rao further alleged that even during its immediate previous 10-year rule, the Congress had failed to think about the welfare of the farmers. Even the recent regimes from those of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy to N Kiran Kumar Reddy had conveniently ignored the issues of farmers and irrigation.
He added that the Congress leaders were mischievously creating confusion among the distressed farmers.
The minister said that the TRS Government had already spent Rs 400 crores on the minor irrigation sector in the State and on supplying quality power for crops. And the water grid initiative was getting accolades at the national and international levels
The TRS government was with the farmers, and they should not end their lives, he pleaded.