YSRCP, TDP foes of farmers: APCC

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Sunday lambasted both the YSR Congress Party and the TDP for blatantly supporting the BJP government when it introduced anti-farmer Bills in Parliament.

APCC president Dr S Sailajanath and working president Dr N Tulasi Reddy in separate statements said that the Akali Dal and Biju Janata Dal totally opposed the Bills and Akali Dal even left the Cabinet in protest whereas the opposition parties TDP and the YSR Congress shamelessly supported them.

Describing both the parties as foes of farmers, they said that the two parties turned into puppets at the hands of the BJP. Once the Bills became enactments, there would be no minimum support price for the agriculture produce and there would be no market yards. "The farmers would become slaves to the capitalists," they said.

The Congress leaders described the Bills as swords laced with honey to cut the throats of farmers.

The YSR Congress party has taken a number of decisions which were against the farmers and it even had evaded payment of Rs 8,000 crore under loan waiver scheme. The State government is yet to set up price stabilisation fund for the farmers. It had reduced allocation of funds for agriculture and irrigation and did not spend the allocated funds.

Assailing Rajya Sabha member V Vijayasai Reddy for his uncharitable remarks against the Congress party, the Congress leaders said that he has no stature to criticise the Congress party. The MP has been trying hard to evade the criminal cases by being subservient to the BJP, they said and criticised Vijayasai for belittling the judiciary in Parliament.