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.
In response, Finance Minister T. Harish Rao challenged the Congress to a referendum on free power supply, confident that farmers have not faced significant issues in the last nine years. Accepting the challenge, Mr. Revanth Reddy called for ‘gram sabhas’ at all the 3,500 electric substations that supply power to verify the extent of power supplied daily. Congress MP Komatireddy Venkata Reddy visited a substation in Bandasomaram village in Bhongir mandal and displayed log book details to the media to prove that the government was providing only 11 hours of power to the farmers against its claims of 24x7 supply. Knowing that more Congress leaders could make such visits, the government issued strict instructions to staff working in the substations not to share the log book details with “outsiders”. The BRS is yet to react to the ‘gram sabhas’ challenge.
This war of words has been raging since farmers can either help or ruin the chances of either of these parties in the coming Assembly elections. Farmers are a large voting bloc and no party can afford to antagonise them. The Rythu Bandhu scheme, which provides ₹5,000 an acre for each crop season to landholders, benefits 70 lakh farmers with different land-holding patterns. Though Mr. Revanth Reddy claims that 95% of farmers in Telangana have landholdings which are not more than three acres each, government data of 2015-16 show that 64.6% of the State’s farmers are marginal farmers with land holdings below 2.47 acres. Small farmers who hold between 2.48 acres and 4.94 acres constitute 23.7%; semi-medium farmers who hold between 4.95 acres and 9.88 acres constitute 9.5%; and medium farmers who hold 9.89 acres to 24.77 acres constitute 2.1%. Large farmers who have24.78 acres constitute merely 0.2%.
Mr. Revanth Reddy’s detractors within the party too have used the opportunity to blame him for raking up an unnecessary issue, which they say allows the BRS to score political points. Mr. Komatireddy Venkata Reddy said the Congress chief’s remarks were his own and that the party was committed to 24-hour free supply as always. Trying to defuse the situation, supporters of Mr. Revanth Reddy said that Congress leaders should not fall into the BRS’s trap. They claimed that the party had taken Mr. Revanth Reddy’s remarks out of context. Vice president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Mallu Ravi said that the party must focus on talking about corruption in the BRS.
Also read | Grill BRS at Rythu Vedikas on its failed promises: Revanth to farmers
While the Congress is trying its best to wriggle out of this situation, the BRS is keen to use the opportunity to portray the Congress as “anti-farmer”. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is struggling with internal issues, has decided to keep away from the controversy, which has led to intrigue within political circles.
