KCR calls for unity of farmers

Nanded: Telangana Chief Minister and BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has said that the condition of farmers has never changed during the last 75 years when mainly two parties -- Congress for 54 years and the BJP later -- have been in power. To change the situation, he called for the unity of agriculturists.

Speaking at a rally in Loha tehsil in Nanded district of Maharashtra, around 214 km from here, on Sunday, the BRS leader said the Maharashtra government decided to give Rs 6,000 assistance to farmers only after he addressed a gathering in Nanded last month. KCR said, "when you showed your power in the past, the rulers had to apologise. We should not get divided along the lines of religions but unite as peasants". He said 41 crore acres of land in India is suitable for agriculture. "I came here only once and a provision to give each farmer Rs 6,000 per year was found in the Maharashtra budget. Why was it never done earlier?

"This aid is like sprinkling water on a fire. We do not want it. We want Rs 10,000 be given to farmers per acre who can utilise it for investing in agricultural activities," KCR said. He also took pot shots at BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for saying that Rao should concentrate on Telangana. "I appeal to Fadnavis to implement 24-hour water, free electricity for farmers, and purchase their yield. I will stop coming to Maharashtra," he said.

He called for the optimum and smart utilisation of natural resources like coal and water. "We are utilising only 19,000 TMC of water of 75,000 TMC but the rest flows into the Bay of Bengal. We have ample coal which can provide electricity for the next 125 years to the country. Despite this, farmers are facing problems," he said.

KCR announced that the BRS would contest Panchayat elections in Maharashtra. "BRS leaders will visit villages and membership drives will be organised," he added. He said, eight-nine years ago, Telangana was in bad condition. Farmers were committing suicide in large numbers. But now the situation has changed. If Telangana can improve why a state like Maharashtra which has more resources?" he asked. Former Lok Sabha MP from Maharashtra Haribhau Rathod, ex-MLAs Shankar Dhondge and Harshvardhan Jadhav, and local political leaders joined the BRS in the presence of KCR at the rally on Sunday.