Congress Kicks Off Farmers' Agitation

The Congress on Friday unveiled a "Vision 2023" to achieve its goal of winning at least 79 seats in the next Assembly elections in 2023 to come to power in Telangana.

This was announced by AICC in-charge for Telangana Manickam Tagore, along with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president & MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, in the Kisan Mazdoor Bachao Diwas of the party at Sangareddy as part of Congress' nationwide agitation against the three new agricultural laws introduced by the BJP government.

Addressing the meeting, Tagore said that the Vision 2023 was unveiled in Sangareddy as this was the place from where former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had filed her nomination papers to contest for the Medak Lok Sabha constituency in 1980.

He expressed hope that Sangareddy would turn lucky again for the Congress, and that the party would come to power in 2023.

He promised that Sangareddy MLA Jagga Reddy would be a cabinet minister if that happened.

Tagore appealed to the people to think about their futures and defeat the TRS in next elections. He said that the people should not get lured by the Rs 1,000 or Rs 2,000 that the TRS leaders were paying to get their votes. Instead, they should vote for the Congress to ensure bright futures for their children.

Speaking on the occasion, Uttam Kumar Reddy appealed to the Congress cadre to work hard to bring the Congress to power in 2023.

He also alleged that the lives of the farmers had been facing ruin ever since the BJP had come to power at the Centre and the TRS in Telangana.

He said that the new farm laws were aimed at benefiting the corporates. He said that the laws had made the Minimum Support Price (MSP) irrelevant, and that it was not binding for the corporate sector to procure agriculture produce at an MSP.

He demanded that the union government immediately withdraw the controversial laws and address the concerns of the farming community.

He added that as part of a nation-wide agitation, protests had been held across Telangana on Friday to pressurise the union government to withdraw the contentious farm laws.

Reddy also said that the Congress had launched a signature campaign against the laws, and that the party would collect more than two crore signatures from across the country. These signatures would be submitted to the President of India by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on November 14.

He reiterated the demand that KCR convene a special session of the Legislative Assembly to pass a unanimous resolution against the new agricultural laws, and override those laws under Article 254 (2) of the Constitution of India.

He said that KCR needed to prove his opposition to the new laws by his action and not by just words.

He also once again described KCR as a betrayer of farmers. He slammed the Chief Minister for not honouring the promise of waiving off crop loans upto Rs 1 lakh, and claimed that there had been a rise in farmers' suicides ever since the TRS had come to power in Telangana in 2014.