TPCC chief slams TRS for mass arrest of Congress leaders to foil 'Rachabanda for Farmers' programme at Erravalli

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], December 28 : Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President and MP A Revanth Reddy on Monday strongly condemned the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for resorting to mass arrests of Congress leaders and workers to foil the 'Rachabanda for Farmers' programme at Erravalli in Gajwel constituency in the state.
The TRCC MP was speaking to media persons at Amberpet police station where he was taken after his arrest from his residence in Jubilee Hills on Monday morning. All senior leaders of the Congress party were either taken into custody or placed on house arrest since the early hours of Monday.

Speaking to media persons, Revanth Reddy said, "The Congress party was conducting the programme to instil confidence among the paddy farmers across Telangana State. Many farmers committed suicide or died due to heart attacks and other reasons as they were upset over non-procurement of their produce by the TRS and BJP governments during the last three months."
"Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao took any measures to restore confidence among farmers and instead TRS-BJP indulged in a dirty blame game to avoid resolution of the problem. Since Congress has been fighting to get justice for farmers, KCR foiled the 'Rachabanda' programme at Erravalli by ordering the massive arrests of all important leaders," he said.

Revanth Reddy said that KCR had earlier given a call for the cultivation of paddy on one crore acres of land, but for rainy season, the TRS government made no arrangements like gunny bags, transportation and stocking to procure over 60 lakh MTs of paddy.
Consequently, lakhs of paddy farmers were left in the lurch with many of them resorting to extreme steps like suicide. Further, KCR issued a diktat ordering a ban on the cultivation of paddy across states in the Yasangi (Kharif) season. On the other side, KCR and his family members are cultivating paddy on their 150-acre farm in Erravalli.

"When the Congress exposed that KCR was cultivating paddy on 150 Acres and wanted to take a media team to Erravalli to verify the fact, KCR deployed the entire police force to stop Congress leaders from visiting Erravalli," Reddy said.
He asked, "Is Erravalli a restricted area? Is it located in Pakistan or China? Do we need to take a visa to go to Erravalli? Is there a hidden treasure in Erravalli which KCR fears will be stolen if people visit there to check paddy cultivation?"

Speaking about the Rachaband programme, Reddy said that the Congress party was conducting this programme to instil confidence among farmers and stop them from committing suicide.
He said that there was no law that prevented farmers from cultivating the crop of their choice and it would be legally mandatory for the Central and State governments to procure all 23 crops covered with Minimum Support Price.
Therefore, he said that the farmers should not worry about cultivating paddy in the Yasangi season. The Congress party will fight for the farmers' rights to ensure that each and every grain they produce is purchased by the government.

Instead of addressing the immediate needs of paddy farmers, he said Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay gave a call for Deeksha on the unemployment issue only to counter the Congress party's Rachabanda programme.

Reddy said that TRS and BJP were equally responsible for the rising unemployment in Telangana State.
"PM Modi came to power in 2014 on the promise of giving two crore jobs every year. By now, at least 16 crore jobs should have been created and Telangana's share would have been nearly 50 lakh jobs," he added.
Further, he said over 20 lakh qualified youth have registered themselves with the Telangana Public Service Commission while lakhs of others are desperately waiting for unemployment and the unemployment problem in Telangana would have been resolved if the Modi government had fulfilled its promise.

He also ridiculed Minister K Tarakarama Rao's letter to BJP leader Bandi Sanjay on the unemployment issue.
"Have you ever heard of a minister writing an open letter to the leader of an opposition party?" he asked while adding that Bandi Sanjay's Deeksha, KTR's letter and the entire blame-game between TRS and BJP were aimed at diverting people's attention.

The TPCC President said that the Congress party would intensify its agitation and would not rest until all farmers get justice. He exhorted the farmers to cultivate paddy in the Yasangi season without any fear and warned the TRS Government of serious consequences if it resorts to any intimidating tactics to terrorise the farmers.