Bharatiya Janata Party state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Government has been politicking on paddy procurement and divert the farmers’ anger towards Cetnre. He has alleged that there was a large conspiracy to help the middlemen make hundreds of crores of rupees in the issue.
In an open letter to the farming community, Mr. Sanjay said by closing down paddy procurement centres during Yasangi (rabi) season, the Telangana government was creating an inevitable situation for the farmers to sell their produce to middlemen at a very lower rate than the minimum support price (MSP). “It is a conspiracy hatched by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in collusion with the rice millers’ mafia to deny MSP to farmers, so that the bigwigs in the ruling party mint millions of rupees in the form of commission,” he alleged.
Stating that the closure of the paddy procurement centres during the rabi season was part of the large conspiracy of the government, the BJP president said since the farmers would question the government for not purchasing the paddy, the TRS leaders were hitting the roads to divert the farmers’ anger towards the Centre. He said the Centre would pay an MSP of ₹1,960 for quintal of paddy during the rabi season.
“The farmers have already started harvesting the crop and in several districts like Nalgonda, Khammam and Warangal, the farmers have started bring their produce to the market. Since the state government has not opened the IKP centres (meant for procurement of agriculture produce), the farmers are forced to go to millers. Taking advantage of the farmers’ helplessness, the millers are paying only around ₹1300 to ₹1,660 per quintal of paddy, which is much less than the MSP. Since the farmers have to clear their debts and meet their family requirements, they are compelled to sell their produce at a very lesser rate offered by brokers, thereby suffering a loss of ₹300 to ₹600 per quintal,” said Mr. Sanjay
Stating that the Union Government was ready to purchase every grain produced by them, the BJP president said that it has been following a uniform policy across the country and this year too.
He has reminded that in the last seven years, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre had paid ₹97,575 crore to the Telangana government for procurement of rice. Telangana had been in the No. 2 position in the country in the procurement of rice. “Why should there be a problem only in Telangana, when there was no issue in case of all the other states?” he asked.
Sanjay reminded that Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao and his family members had made statements several times that the state government would procure every grain of the paddy from farmers. “Why are thy changing tone now? The TRS government signed an agreement with the FCI before the last Kharif season that it would procure paddy, convert it into rice and supply the same to the Centre. Why has it changed its stand now?” he asked.
“It is time the people of the state teach a fitting lesson to the TRS. The ultimate judges are farmers, who are well aware of the conspiracies of the TRS. I request them to join the struggle being waged by the BJP,” Mr. Sanjay appealed.
