Farmers first, declares KCR

Hyderabad: The Telangana Government will wait for two more days for a positive response from the Centre to their demand to announce paddy procurement policy and agree to buy the entire kharif crop. If it fails, the TRS will announce its next action plan which could be staging a dharna in New Delhi.

Stating that the paddy procurement issue was a life and death issue for the farmers, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday said that if needed the TRS would lead the agitation of the farmers at national level. Addressing the 'Maha Dharna' at the Dharna Chowk, the Chief Minister said that this was just the beginning of a fight against the Centre in the interest of farmers.

He said it was unfortunate that the Centre had created a situation where chief ministers are being forced to take an agitational path instead of concentrating on governance. He recalled how Narendra Modi as chief minister of Gujarat had sat on a dharna for about 50 days demanding the Centre to procure crops but after becoming the Prime Minister, he was adopting anti-farmer policies.

"I request with my folded hands to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tell us whether we should go for paddy or not. We will wait for two to three days before we launch our next phase of agitation," he said. The Chief Minister said that they would also take up 'Savu Dappu' in villages (beating of drums when a person dies). "KCR will not be afraid of you. If KCR was afraid of consequences, Telangana would not have been formed. I dare the BJP leaders to clear their stand on the paddy procurement," he said.

He said that if the Centre denies procuring the 5-lakh tonnes of rabi paddy of the last year, they would throw it in the BJP offices in districts. The TRS president said that the procurement problem was not restricted to Telangana but of the country. The Centre was not allowing farmers to live, he added. He said the Centre has scientific godowns and they should save the farmers by spending even Rs 2 lakh crore. The Centre lacks wisdom. The Centre was doing injustice to the State in every respect.

While it was refusing to buy paddy, it also denied ITIR, Tribal University, Navodaya Vidyalayas among many other facilities. The BJP has been keeping interest on issues like SC categorisation, enhancement of reservations to tribals and BCs, and at times keeps raking up religious passions. "They talk of Surgical Strike, do dramas at border during elections. Did people elect them for all this? TRS will fight against the anti-farmer policies till the last drop of their blood," KCR said. Later, a delegation submitted a memorandum to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan urging her to direct the Centre to buy paddy.Farmers first, declares KCR