TDP demands `1 cr ex gratia to Pulivendula farmer's kin

TDP former MLA B C Janardhan Reddy on Thursday demanded that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government take responsibility for the rising crop losses, mounting debts and consequential suicides of the farmers all over the state.

Janardhan Reddy termed it as 'shameless' on the part of the Chief Minister to make tall claims of farmers' wellbeing at a time when AP stood in third place in farmers' suicides in the country right now. Jagan did not respond even though a farmer named Vijaya Sekhar Reddy committed suicide in his own Pulivendula Assembly constituency following rising debts.

Addressing a virtual press conference here, the TDP leader asked why not a single YSRCP leader called on the family members of the deceased Pulivendula farmer. If this was the plight of the farmers in the Chief Minister's own constituency, then there would be no way any support would be given to farmers in the rest of the state. The government should immediately announce Rs. 1 crore ex gratia to the family members of late Vijaya Sekhar Reddy, he said.

Janardhan Reddy said that the ongoing suicides of farmers were a clear proof of how the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime was totally neglecting the agriculture sector. The so-called Rythu Bharosa Kendras were only causing greater misery and suffering to the farmers. Over 1,000 farmers committed suicide in AP under the YSRCP regime. The Chief Minister should explain why he failed to prevent these suicides. Jagan won the elections with the votes of farmers but, after becoming the Chief Minister, he started working against the same farmers who brought him to power.

The TDP leader said that the government was not even paying the arrears to the farmers towards the food grain purchased from them.

The TDP government laid a lot of focus and spent huge funds on the irrigation projects to improve the lot of farmers. But, the Jagan government ignored the irrigation sector and got ready to fix meters on motors. Just Rs 7,500 was being given but not Rs 13,500 as promised by the Chief Minister, Janardhan Reddy said.