Hyderabad: Bandi demands crop loan waiver for rain-hit farmers

Hyderabad: State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Wednesday demanded Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to immediately announce crop loan waiver as promised by him in the past and take steps to sanction fresh loans to farmers affected by heavy rain/floods across the State.

Speaking to reporters, he said KCR should wake up from his deep slumber and come to the rescue of farmers who had suffered huge crop loss due to rain and floods. "Due to non-implementation of crop loan waiver by KCR, as promised by him in the past, farmers are suffering a lot, as banks are not giving fresh crop loans," he said.

Bandi demanded the government to immediately hold a meeting with bankers and see that they grant fresh crop loans to farmers. Stating that the heavy rain for the last five days caused huge loss to farmers and untold miseries to the poor, he alleged that KCR had not come out of his farmhouse and Pragati Bhavan but was passing time in the name of reviews.

"Instead of wasting time abusing the BJP, the CM should go to people and see what they are saying about him. In 2018, he had promised waiver of Rs 8,000 crore crop loans but has not fulfilled his promise till date. As a result, bankers are adjusting even savings of farmers for their previous loans, forcing them to depend on private money lenders," he said.

Bandi alleged that, in the name of Rythu Bandhu, the government had stopped all other farm subsidies. On the other hand, the Centre has been giving Rs 27,000 a year as subsidy on fertiliser and PM Kisan Yojana," he pointed out.

Referring to the survey conducted by a private agency, Bandi said it clearly showed that the BJP vote share had gone up from six per cent to 30 per cent, whereas the TRS graph had fallen drastically. "It is not difficult for the BJP to see that its vote share goes up by another eight per cent in the next few months and come to power in Telangana," he asserted.

On the Congress party's public meeting at Sircilla on August 3, Bandi said the Congress was in a state of confusion. Instead of fighting the TRS, it is competing with the BJP. It is pretty evident that the Congress and the TRS would fight the elections together," he stated, adding they would not be able to stall the BJP victory in the next elections.