Irrespective of the party in power, a political slugfest between the Opposition and ruling parties is unveiled every year when the harvesting of paddy and arrival of the produce begins at the agricultural markets in Telangana. This year is no different and perhaps it’s more intense as the procurement season is matching with the election period.
The war of words, particularly between the Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the ruling Congress party, has taken off in advance this year with a large number of farmers suffering crop loss this season due to the withering of paddy and a few other crops due to lack of water for irrigation and also loss in some extent due to untimely rain, hails and gales a little earlier.
The State government, on its part, has got the crops loss due to untimely rain and put the extent of loss at little over 15,000 acres and announced a relief of ₹10,000 per acre as given by the previous government during the last Rabi season. However, the BRS has been demanding a relief of ₹25,000 per acre both for loss due to untimely rain and due to withering of standing crops, as demanded by Congress last year, when it was in the Opposition. This season, the Opposition BRS has made the crops loss mainly due to lack of water for irrigation (withering) as one of its poll planks and the party leaders including president K. Chandrasekhar Rao taking up field visits meeting farmers in distress and console them before kicking off the campaign for Lok Sabha polls.
