Hyderabad: Niranjan Reddy terms it Delhi-scripted meet

Hyderabad: Telangana State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Saturday reiterated that Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, has read the Delhi Script claiming the Centre standing in support of the farmers and the agriculture sector in the last nine years.

Reacting to the Union Minister’s media conference, Niranjan Reddy said the Centre had promised to double the farmer’s income by 2022 but, what has gone up was the farmer’s investments in cultivating their lands.

He said that the Centre is taking a unilateral decision on the MSP despite repeated pleas of the states to decide the MSP based on the state-wise crop investments of the farmers. It is laughable on the part of the Union Minister talking about the irrigation projects and asking whether the BJP leaders from Telangana have ever asked the Centre for national status for Kaleswaram and PalamuruRanga Reddy irrigation projects? The Centre had accorded national status to the Upper Bhadra project in Karnataka. But, not a single BJP leader from the State has asked to extend the same to the Telangana projects, he added.

He charged that the Centre is procuring only 25 per cent of the crop yields on MSP, leaving the burden on the State government. Further, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) are vanishing from procuring paddy and cotton, respectively. The entire burden is shifted to the states.

Niranjan Reddy said that the Centre has no plan for the utilisation of fertilizers and crop diversification, and the States implementing them get no encouragement. The Union Minister’s media conference reflects self-patting and blaming others.

He questioned taking credit for Rs 20 lakh loan disbursal and Rs 23,948 crore central loan for sheep breeding. Niranjan Reddy said that fertilizer subsidies existed before BJP came to power. In fact, the fertilizer subsidy goes down when the usage has gone up.