Telangana: Bandi Sanjay blasts CM KCR for telling 'blatant lies'

Hyderabad: Telangana State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Friday criticised that the KCR government was misleading people and farmers on the paddy procurement as well as status of COVID-19 cases in the State.

Addressing the media, he said the Centre had released a report on the nation-wide paddy procurement status, based on the information sent by the States. According to the report released on May 5, Telangana reported that it procured 70 lakh metric tonnes of paddy. Contrary to this, the State government and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had been telling lies and claiming that one crore metric tonnes of paddy would be procured in the State. "KCR is evasive when questioned about such discrepancies," he said.

The BJP leader demanded that the TRS chief immediately clarify whether his claim of one crore metric tonnes acquisition would include the combined procurement of Yasangi and rainy seasons, or of only Yasangi season. Further, the State government statistics show that it procured only 25 lakh metric tonnes of paddy till May 20. Then, it should clarify how it would procure the remaining 75 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in the next 10 to 15 days, he questioned.

Dismissing KCR charges against the Centre, he said the Chief Minister was making tall claims as if he was the only one who was procuring every grain cultivated in the State. Banks pay to the farmers and, in turn, FCI would pay to the banks. Besides, charges of transport, gunny bags, milling are also provided by the Centre and the State government plays only the role of mediator and it pays nothing for the procurement of paddy, he added. He asked the State government why it was not releasing the bulletins of procurement status as was being done by other states to maintain transparency.

The Karimnagar MP said besides cotton, the Centre provided funds through National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED) for procurement of Bengal gram. But, the CM claims as though his government was doing everything.

Asking the TRS chief to use appropriate language, he alleged that KCR was trying to showcase lies as facts to mislead people. As part of the tactic, the State government was trying to give a misleading picture of the status of COVID-19 in the State.

He asked the CM to spell out the reasons for stopping tests to identify Coronavirus positive cases in the State. He also accused KCR of failing to act tough against those violating the lockdown norms to appease a section of people. He reminded how the poor and common people suffered due to the spread of virus from the Markaz attendees.