Congress Lashes Out At KCR On Farm Acts U-Turn

TPCC President and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today accused Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of making a U-turn on the issue of the Centre's new farm Acts.

Speaking after hoisting the party flag on the occasion of its 136th Formation Day, Reddy strongly condemned the CM's sudden change in stance.

"The Chief Minister's opposition to the new farm laws brought in by the BJP-led union government was all pretence. Following his Delhi visit, he has suddenly become supportive of the agricultural Acts. By stating that the laws have enabled the farmers to sell their produce anywhere they like, he has directly expressed his support for the three controversial legislations," he said.

The TPCC chief also condemned KCR's decision to wind up the crop procurement centres in the villages. He reminded the CM that the latter had no right to shut the centres down as they had been established not by the current TRS regime but by the preceding Congress government for the benefit of the farming community in the state.

"When in power, the Congress consistently framed and implemented policies to empower the poor and downtrodden. When in the Opposition, it played a constructive role by opposing all anti-people policies, and highlighted the issues concerning the common man. The current ruling party, the TRS, however does not stand by the people of the state. In fact, it is even blaming the farmers of Telangana for their losses after first imposing its flawed regulated farming scheme on them, which is what caused them to incur such heavy losses in the first place. It is the responsibility of the state government to buy agricultural produce at the MSP, and it must continue to do so," the MP said.

He also vowed that the Congress would fight by the side of the protesting farmers till they got justice.

"The Congress has always been committed to the welfare of the people of the country, and we will continue to support the farmers in their agitation till the three unjust farm Acts are repealed. We will implement the slogan 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan' in its letter and spirit," Reddy said.

Continuing his attack on the Centre and the state government, he alleged that both had deceived the people on multiple occasions.

"Both the BJP and the TRS are running their governments on the basis of lies and corruption, and have failed to fulfil their promises of bringing development and welfare. Only the Congress is sincerely committed to supporting the people of both the state and the country," he said.

He then claimed that though it was the successive Congress-led union governments that had turned India into a strong economic power, and had enabled it to become a major exporter of food grains, the current NDA regime was undoing all the progress made by its predecessors.

"Today, India exports food grains to more than 200 countries. The credit for this goes entirely to the Congress. The previous Congress regimes at the Centre had even set up various public sector undertakings to create public assets worth lakhs of crores of rupees. However, the present union government is destroying these enterprises in order to help a handful of corporate houses," the Congress leader said.

Other Congress leaders including former TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah and MLA T Jagga Reddy also censured the CM for his sudden change in stance on the issue.

Earlier in the day, Uttam Kumar Reddy paid floral tributes at the statue of veteran Congress leader P Janardhan Reddy at the Khairatabad junction, on the occasion of the latter's death anniversary.