Rythu Bharosa from Sankranti

Hyderabad: “The state government has decided to implement Rythu Bharosa from Sankranti. This will be the government’s festival gift for the farmers.” Chief Minister A Revanth said this at a media conference on Sunday, adding that the Congress government is committed to fulfilling all the guarantees it had given during the elections.

Revanth Reddy said that a Cabinet subcommittee, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, had been formed to submit a report on the modalities for implementing the scheme, and it will be discussed during the Assembly session to be held this month. The CM said as part of its six poll guarantees, the Congress will provide Rs 15,000 to farmers and tenant farmers, and Rs 12,000 to farm workers under the Rythu Bharosa guarantee scheme per acre annually.

Attacking the previous BRS government, Revanth Reddy claimed that Telangana, which was once a surplus budget state, was pushed into a debt of Rs 7 lakh crore when K Chandrasekhar Rao stepped down as CM in December 2023. 

As of now, the state government is paying Rs 6,500 crore monthly towards debt servicing, including interest and principal amounts, the CM said.

Revanth Reddy alleged that the previous KCR government had never revealed the true financial situation of the state during its tenure. Then Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, T Harish Rao and Eatala Rajender handled Finance portfolios but none of them had ever spoke about the precarious financial situation in the state, he said. Reality came to light only when the Congress government had released the white paper on state finances, he added.

The CM said unlike the previous government, which cheated the farmers and did not implement the loan waiver scheme, the present government has fully implemented the farm loan waiver to Rs 2 lakh, benefiting over 25 lakh farmers by spending nearly Rs 21,000 crore. “This is the first time since Independence that any state has undertaken such a monumental initiative,” Revanth Reddy said, advising the people not to believe the statements of the BRS and BJP leaders regarding the government’s commitment to the welfare of farmers.

“They were behaving like demons and were spitting venom and making all kinds of allegations against the government,” he said and challenged the BJP to come with the list of promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014 and explain how many have been implemented. He said his ministers would come with details of the Congress’ performance in the last one year.

Referring to Union minister G Kishan Reddy’s statements questioning the state government’s liquor policy, Revanth Reddy said that BJP-ruled states like Gujarat had failed in implementing the policy of prohibition. “Kishan Reddy being a slave of Gujarat has nothing to do with Telangana and he has no right to speak,” the CM said.