TDP decries handcuffing of farmers

Party working president Revanth Reddy demands unconditional apology from the Chief Minister; Khammam top cop orders probe
Hyderabad: Finding fault with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for shifting the chilli farmers with handcuffs to the Khammam Court here on Thursday, the leaders of the Opposition parties demanded that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao tender an apology to the farmers and release them immediately unconditionally.

Speaking to the media here on Thursday, Telangana Telugu Desam Party (TDP) working president A Revanth Reddy demanded that the Chief Minister stop making silly talk and tender unconditional apology to the farmers. He said the people would not forgive Chandrashekar Rao for this atrocity. He also demanded that the State government withdraw the cases filed against the farmers and provide minimum support price (MSP) to their crop.

Revanth Reddy said while he was planning to stage dharna at Khammam in solidarity with chilli farmers on May 12 and 13, the State government denied permission to him. He also alleged that the TRS government was trying to portray agitating farmers as betrayers and the police brought them with handcuffs like pickpockets. He further said the TRS government handcuffed the farmers only to show that all critics would face same fate if anybody spoke against the government.

Referring to Minister Thummala Nageshwar Rao’s statement that there were rowdies behind the attack on Market Yard, Revanth Reddy asked Thummala why the police arrested farmers instead of rowdies. Instead of solving the problem by appointing a Special Officer, the government resorted to arrest farmers at midnight, he said. The TRS government was not in a position to allocate Rs 1,000 crore for the sake of farmers.

Slamming the government for squandering money on many unproductive things, Revanth Reddy asked the Chief Minister whether he had no responsibility of providing minimum support price to the farmers. He said the TDP extended financial assistance to the farmers by touring the districts recently and was trying to get bail for arrested farmers by appointing lawyers.

TDP MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, who visited the court to console the detained farmers, was aghast on seeing them with handcuffs. The shocked MLA said what more evidence was needed on the dictatorial functioning of K Chandrashekar Rao. He also alleged that the State government was adopting delay tactics in giving permission to their planned dharna.

Meanwhile, Khammam City Police Commissioner Iqbal expressed his displeasure over the police personnel bringing the detained farmers to the court in fetters. Taking a serious exception, the Commissioner ordered an inquiry by the Deputy Commissioner of Police on handcuffing the farmers.