Hyderabad: Congress accuses BJP of spreading lies about farm bills

Hyderabad: Stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party was not ready to accept the ground realities, Member of Parliament and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Mallikarjun Kharge termed the passing of three farm bills in Parliament by the Union government as anti-constitutional.

Addressing media persons in Gandhi Bhavan on Friday, he said that around 83 per cent of small and marginal farmers will face the ramifications following the changes in the government policies as the corporate companies will have a free hand in the agriculture. "Devoid of ground realities, the ruling party is propagating lies amongst the people. It is very unfortunate that the BJP is not ready to accept the realities," he said.

He said that the Congress party and the entire opposition was opposing the legislation. "All the 18 political parties opposed these bills, but the government was adamant. We tried to stall the bills in Rajya Sabha as these bills will prove detrimental to farmers' interests. Farmers would be receiving minimum support price and they will not be in a position to sell their produce at a price that they like. The corporate companies will import rice directly from other countries," he added.

He wondered how farmers will receive support price if the market yards are closed down. He said that the government was not considering the impact of these bills on those people who depend on the market yards.

The meeting was attended by senior leaders K Jana Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, V Hanumantha Rao, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, MP A Revanth Reddy, M Anjan Kumar Yadav, J Geetha Reddy and others.