Centre privatising PSUs, cheating farmers: Minister Srinivas Goud

Hyderabad: Tourism and Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud said on Thursday that the Centre failed to protect interests of benefit-making companies and farmers. "The Centre is hatching conspiracy against farming activities by raising fertiliser prices, plan to set up power meters at wells and failing to procure paddy stocks, he alleged.

Talking to the media at TRS Legislature Party, Goud said the Centre was privatising companies and selling off PSUs. "It adopts lopsided policies to cheat such companies only to help corporate".

The minister said the government can retain power by implementing pro-farmers and development policies and not by cheating them with price hike. "What the Centre said before bifurcation and after carving out the State. It failed to keep promises and denied funds for development".

"The BJP government miserably failed to honour promises of bifurcation and duped people of Telugu States". He asked whether the Centre or other States implement schemes like those in Telangana. "The TRS government has been repeatedly appealing to the Modi government and FCI to purchase our paddy stocks. The Centre failed to get them; instead increased prices of fertilisers and plan to set up power meters at wells.

The minister slammed that the Modi Government for trying to burden farmers by increasing prices of fertiliser and installing meters. The fight against the Centre will continue until it rolls back fertilizer prices. Goud expressed surprise as to why the BJP government was resorting to anti-people policies.