State of play
Last month, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Congress and the BJP went all out to woo the disgruntled farmers of Telangana. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his Cabinet colleagues led a dharna in New Delhi on April 11 in support of the demand that the Centre procure paddy. The Congress brought in Rahul Gandhi to lead a farmers’ rally on May 6 at Warangal where it announced the ‘Warangal Declaration’. Not to lag behind, the BJP State president Bandi Sanjay’s three week-long padayatra has been devoted to exposing the TRS government’s “anti-farmer policies” and the failure of the former Congress government in completing pending irrigation projects.
The ‘Warangal Declaration’ assures a ₹2 lakh farm loan waiver at one go and an increase in paddy support price to ₹2,500 per quintal if the Congress is brought to power. It also promises investment support of ₹15,000 per acre per annum to both land owners and tenant farmers under the Indiramma Rythu Bharosa scheme. This is to replace the present Rythu Bandhu scheme. The TRS says the Warangal Declaration is nothing but a repeat of the State government’s existing schemes “with some changes here and there”.
