State Boils Over Paddy Row, Ministers Come Onto Streets

The state government today conducted widespread protests against the Centre over its "failed" policies on agriculture.

Responding to the call of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, ministers, MLAs and other TRS leaders staged widespread protests across the state demanding that the Centre avoid "cheating" the farmers and displaying a "partisan" attitude towards Telangana.

They also demanded that the Centre give clarity on paddy procurement from the state.

Harish Rao, Srinivas Goud, Indrakaran Reddy, Ajay Kumar, Sabitha Indra Reddy, Satyavathi Rathod and other ministers, MPs and MLAs took part in the protests.

The ministers accused the Centre of resorting to cheating the farmers of Telangana and spreading falsehoods. They claimed that union ministers Piyush Goyal and G Kishan Reddy were trying to confuse the farmers with different statements on lifting paddy stocks.

They also demanded that the BJP government give clarity on the Yasangi yield, and slammed the Centre for dumping the farmers of Telangana while lifting paddy from Punjab.

With the huge number of protests, the state witnessed a war-like situation thanks to even the ministers taking to the streets.

While most protests included the usual rallies and sloganeering, some of the protests included highly provocative actions like the setting ablaze of effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the union government.

At some places BJP leaders opposed the TRS protests, and created law and order situations.