YSRCP government will stand by affected farmers, asserts Kannababu

Amaravati: Assuring that the government will take care of the farmers who lost their crops in the Gulab cyclone, agriculture minister Kurasala Kannababu said that officials have been appointed to assess the crop damage and slammed the opposition TDP leaders for making 'false allegations' against the government on ignoring farmers.

Addressing a press conference at YSRCP office on Tuesday, the minister said that as er the preliminary estimates, crop in around 1.56 lakh acre was affected by the cyclone, especially in both Godavari and Krishna districts. He stated that the officials have been appointed to oversee the final enumeration and the district collectors have been directed to hold Agri-Advisory Committee meetings to discuss the crop loss. As instructed by the Chief Minister, all the required measures will be taken to rescue the farmers.

While the government is working hard in these critical situations, he said the opposition leaders were creating panic among farmers by taking up a malicious campaign against the government. The minister said that no one can ever beat TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu in diversion politics, who indeed is trying to distort the fact that Rayalaseema districts are coming out of drought conditions.

He reminded that farmers have been abandoned by TDP government during its rule, but the same leaders are shedding crocodile tears now. Unlike the previous government, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had always supported the farmers, introduced market stabilisation fund, and stood by them right from seed to sale.

Further, Kannababu said that during 2014-15, GSDP in agriculture was only Rs 78,898 crore, while in 2020-21, it increased to 14,0087 crore. The overall GSDP with agriculture and allied sectors was Rs 1.48 lakh crore during 2014-15, and it increased to Rs 3.36 lakh crore in 2020-21.

He said that the previous government had made poor allocations to agriculture not exceeding Rs 19,070 crore, but the current government allocated Rs 31,856 crore in 2021-22. He said that the Chief Minister has been providing input subsidies for the crop loss in the same season.

Meanwhile, responding to the Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan's remarks, Kannababu said that Pawan hadn't yet digested his defeat in 2019 polls, and was unable to go alongside BJP while his heart is still with TDP. He flayed him for indulging in caste politics in a film function and said that the latter was speaking out of frustration, as Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is on the winning spree by delivering good governance.