Chandrababu's claims on farm income fake: Srikanth Reddy

Hyderabad: YSRCP senior leader and MLA Gadikota Srikanth Reddy has slammed AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and said that he was publicity crazed. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, he said that he had taken up the gallery walk with his family members only with a view to divert the pubic attention from the Polavaram scam.

 He said that for the past four years,Chandrababu had only discussed whom to allocate how much land. He said that the government had never discussed the drought situation.  The arrears meant to be given to the farmers have remained pending for several years now.

On the rainfall situation, he said the TDP government did not plan any contingency for the scant rainfall. The government should have planned for contingency. He reminded that while in Opposition, Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, now minister for irrigation, had tried to scuttle the contingency measures adopted by YSR while he was chief minister. He said that though the YSRCP tried to raise the issue several times during the past five years, the Government did not pay any heed.

Srikanth Reddy also pooh-poohed Chandrababu’s claim that the state was achieving tremendous rate of growth from farming and allied fields because of TDP’s planning. He said that a careful study of the figures shows how hallow Chandrababu’s claims are.  While Karnataka has brought an additional 3.3 lakh acres under paddy cultivation and Telangana had brought 2.38 lakh more acres under paddy cultivation, Andhra Pradesh could only add 23 acres during the same time.  He said in all sectors like millets, pulses and oilseeds, AP is way too behind other states.

The Rayachoty MLA said that the condition of the farers in Prakasam, Nellore and Rayalaseema is very bad. “During YSR’s reign in 2008-09, 43.86 lakh acres were brought under cultivation during the Kharif and 37.25 lakh during rabi season. Thus, per year, 71.12 lakh acres were cultivated."

 The fall started soon after YSR left, he said and added that during Chandrababu reign, the area under cultivation has come down to 59 lakh acres. Citing a Nabard report , he said that the state stood at 28thposition in farm income. Despite all this, Chandrababu is claiming that the State has made progress.