Telangana BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar said the new demand raked by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao asking the Centre to buy paddy directly from farmers is “highly irresponsible” and exposed his intent to “spread disinformation to cover up his own failures.”
In an open letter to the Chief Minister, a copy of which was released to the media, the BJP president said the latest KCR’s communication to the Prime Minister is “full of lies and falsehoods”. It is unfortunate that such a communication with the objective to send a “wrong signal” to the farmers and “discredit” the Central government has been written by a person holding a responsible post, he said.
Union Minister Piyush Goel has already clarified that raw rice will be procured from States, including Punjab and Telangana, in the same manner as is done every year because State governments have the necessary infrastructure to procure paddy from farmers, mill them into raw rice and then hand over the same to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), he explained.
“Mr. Rao, now wants to turn everything topsy-turvy with his new demand, conveniently not stating that the Centre has been and will continue to pay every single paisa incurred in procurement and supply of rice rice from labour charges, transport besides the minimum support price to the farmers. He wants to go back on his own government having signed an agreement with the Centre on this,” he charged.
The MP observed that the entire strategy of Mr. Rao is to show the Centre in a “bad light” to the farmers and shift the blame for his own failure to ensure efficient procurement. “We will expose his duplicity to the people of Telangana and his deliberately made confusing statements on cultivation of paddy and procurement issues over the years,” he said.
The BJP has “proof” that TRS bigwigs are involved in “recycling of the ration rice and selling rice of other States” so there could be an ulterior motive behind the Chief Minister’s new demand, he claimed. The TRS government is bound to purchase every single grain of paddy produced this season and the BJP will keep up the pressure, he added.
