BJP Blames Govt For Farmers' Plight

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the latest political outfit to take up the cause of the farmers. The party staged a dharna outside Indira Park, the venue of 99% of the political agitations that take place in the city.

Speaking at the dharna, BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu lashed out at the government for its incompetence in dealing with the abundance of paddy grains.

Naidu said that one crore tonnes of paddy grains were reaped by the farmers at the end of the Rabi season. He charged that only 2,70,000 tonnes of the paddy were bought by the state government thus far, and that the grains were bought at upto Rs. 375 lower than the prescribed Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The BJP leader said that the Centre was asked to permit the export of rice grains during the last Kharif season, but that permission was denied. As a result of this decision of the Union government, the grain purchase centres are pre-occupied with the produce of the Kharif season, and the farmers are unable to sell their paddy, he said.

Naidu also alleged that the incompetence of the Food Corporation of India and the Food and Civil Supplies authorities is a co-factor of the plight of the farmers.

Venkaiah Naidu found fault with the Congress for paying more attention to the recently concluded Kadapa by-elections than to the plight of the farmers. He charged that the Congress had left the farmers to fend for themselves and had focused upon the by-elections instead.