A remark made in the U.S. has ignited a fire thousands of miles away in Telangana. During his interaction with the Telugu Association of North America in Philadelphia, Telangana Congress president A. Revanth Reddy said that 95% of Telangana farmers have landholdings which are not more than three acres each, and that power supply for eight hours would be more than sufficient for them. He alleged that the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) government was using the 24-hour power supply scheme for political reasons. He also claimed that the government was spending ₹16,000 crore annually on the scheme even though it was not supplying power for more than 10-11 hours. He alleged that the remaining “₹8,000 crore was going into the vaults of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao in the form of commissions from the power bought.”
The BRS was quick to term Mr. Revanth Reddy “anti-farmer” and hold protests. BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao appealed to farmers to choose between ‘Moodu Pantalu or Moodu Ghantalu’ (three yields a year or three hours of power supply). Mr. Rao asked for farmers meetings to be held at Rythu Vedikas, a platform for farmers, across the State to “remind them them of how the dark days of the Congress had ruined the agriculture sector”.
Not to be cowed down by the muscle and manpower of the BRS protests, Mr. Revanth Reddy claimed that it was Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who as Chief Minister had first provided free power to agriculture in 2004 despite opposition from the Telugu Desam Party, which, back then, included the present Chief Minister.
