Hyderabad, December 19: Appealing to the TDP Chief, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, not to politicise the farmers’ issue, the PCC Kisan Cell Chairman, Mr Kodanda Reddy, has alleged that the former had miserably failed to highlight the plight of the farmers in the just concluded Assembly session and undertook indefinite hunger strike with political motive.
Speaking at Assembly mediapoint on Saturday, Mr Kodanda Reddy said that Mr Chandrababu Naidu has not only failed to give constructive advice to the government on how to save the distressed farmers from the crisis, but also chose to disrupt the proceedings in the House for three days consecutively. He also alleged that Mr Chandrababu Naidu, in the name of Vision-2020, had disturbed the State granary with a different procurement system. Due to his erratic policy, even today the farmers were not getting minimum support price, he added.
Mr Kodanda Reddy said that Mr Chandrababu Naidu, who was advocating that the State government adopt the Justice BA Choudhary and Prof. Swaminathan’s recommendations regarding farmers’ issue, did not take the same into consideration during his regime. He said that it was not proper for the former chief minister, who trained guns at farmers during his rule, to go on hunger strike even after the Chief Minister, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, extending help by announcing the input subsidy of Rs 6,000 per hectare.
Alleging that Mr Chandrababu Naidu has the dubious distinction of destroying the rural system, Mr Kodanda Reddy said that late chief minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy generated confidence in the farmers with his pro-farmer policies.
Pointing out that Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy has increased input subsidy from Rs 1,500 to Rs 6,000, Mr Kodanda Reddy said that even Tamil Nadu and Assam governments have not given this much subsidy to the farmers. The State government has agreed to purchase discolored paddy too, he added.
Pleading with the government to extend help to the tenant farmers also, Mr Kodanda Reddy suggested that Mr Chandrababu Naidu and Mr Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to lend a helping hand to the State government to get more funds from the Centre to help the farmers.
——–NSS