TPCC chief Revanth Reddy today faulted the comments made by Siddipet district Collector Venkatrami Reddy warning the seed dealers and the farmers of the district against paddy cultivation.
Referring to the comments of the Collector a few days back (a video of the comments has gone viral) that he would shut down any seed shops selling paddy seeds and not even listen to the orders of the courts on the issue, Reddy asked if the district collector was bigger than the Supreme Court of India.
He demanded that the government take immediate action against the Collector.
He also alleged that the state government had decided to go through the back door and close the seed shops and discourage paddy cultivation in order to shirk its responsibility to buy the produce from the paddy farmers.
He asked the government why it had spent lakhs of crores of rupees on the construction of irrigation projects in the state if it had no interest in cultivating paddy.
Congress MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy too came down heavily on the Siddipet Collector.
Reddy asked the state government in what capacity the Siddipet Collector was threatening the farmers. He also sought to know why the Collector was still being allowed to continue in his post after making such controversial comments.
He asked the Collector to tender his apologies to the farmers of the state immediately, and warned that the Congress would lay siege to the Siddipet Collectorate if he didn't.
TPCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud alleged that the Collector had turned into an extra-judicial authority in the state.