Farm Sector Eclipsed In Congress' Rule: Harish Rao

The BRS today released a chargesheet on the one-year rule of the Congress titled 'One Year Rule - Relentless Deception' at Telangana Bhavan.

Speaking on the occasion, BRS leader Harish Rao said that the agriculture sector in Telangana had atrophied under CM Revanth Reddy's dictatorial rule.

He said that the welfare of the farmers in the State started deteriorating after Reddy came to power. He recalled that Reddy had said that he would put his first signature on the crop loan waiver file if he came to power, but that although he was sworn in as Chief Minister over a year back now he did not keep the promise that he had made to the farmers.

"When we challenged the CM on his loan waiver promise, the CM set a new deadline August 15, 2024, for the waivers, but he did not keep that promise, either," he said.

He claimed that 50% of the farmers in the State had not had their crop loan dues waived off yet, and criticized the Revanth Reddy government for creating 31 excuses and evading the loan waivers.

Rao said that the crop investment too had not been increased to Rs 15,000 despite the Congress' promise to do that, and that even the previous amount had not been distributed to the farmers.

He said that the CM was unable to face the reality, and was instead simply getting angry with him for revealing the truth on the loan waivers and having false cases foisted upon him.

Rao said that the Rythu Bandhu scheme introduced by KCR had sustained Telangana's agriculture sector, and that KCR had not stopped the scheme even after two consecutive years of Covid. "The BRS government had deposited Rs 72,817 crore in the accounts of the farmers in 11 instalments. Is there any State in the country which deposited Rs 72,000 crore directly into the accounts of the farmers? Which Chief Minister apart from KCR did anything like that?" he asked.

The BRS leader also said that the BRS government had initiated the practice of purchasing all the crops grown in the State, and had ensured that payments were deposited into the farmers' accounts within a week. He criticized the change in this system after the Revanth Reddy government came to power, and also accused it of buying paddy at prices below the support price.