Telangana Congress chief slams TRS for arresting party leaders over ‘Rachabanda’ programme

Following the mass arrests of Congress leaders in the state, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) has now strongly condemned the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government. TPCC President and MP A Revanth Reddy on Monday slammed the TRS government for resorting to arresting of Congress leaders and workers to foil the ‘Rachabanda for Farmers’ programme at Erravalli in Gajwel constituency in the state. The TPCC leader launched an attack on Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and said that he was hurting the farmers by targeting the Congress.

The TPCC MP was speaking to the media at Amberpet police station where he was lodged after his arrest from his residence in Jubilee Hills on Monday morning. Senior leaders of the Congress party were either taken into custody or placed on house arrest since the early hours of Monday. Following the arrests, Revanth Reddy said that his party was merely working to support the paddy farmers in the state.

“The Congress party was conducting the programme to instil confidence among the paddy farmers across Telangana State. Many farmers committed suicide or died due to heart attacks and other reasons as they were upset over non-procurement of their produce by the TRS and BJP governments during the last three months,” Reddy said. Furthermore, he attacked the ruling parties at state and Centre and said, “Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao took any measures to restore confidence among farmers and instead TRS-BJP indulged in a dirty blame game to avoid resolution of the problem.”

“Since Congress has been fighting to get justice for farmers, KCR foiled the ‘Rachabanda’ programme at Erravalli by ordering the massive arrests of all important leaders,” he added. Revanth Reddy further added that the CM had earlier given a call for the cultivation of paddy on one crore acres of land and failed to make any arrangements for the rainy season. He claimed that the TRS government didn’t support the farmers with gunny bags, transportation and stocking to procure over 60 lakh MTs of paddy produced. He added that lakhs of paddy farmers were left struggling due to this, leading them to resort to extreme steps like suicide.

TPCC Chief accuses KCR of illegal farming

The TPCC chief also accused KCR and his family members of cultivating paddy on their 150-acre farm in Erravalli, after issuing a diktat ordering a ban on the cultivation of paddy across states in the Yasangi (Kharif) season. “When the Congress exposed that KCR was cultivating paddy on 150 Acres and wanted to take a media team to Erravalli to verify the fact, KCR deployed the entire police force to stop Congress leaders from visiting Erravalli,” Reddy said.

“Is Erravalli a restricted area? Is it located in Pakistan or China? Do we need to take a visa to go to Erravalli? Is there a hidden treasure in Erravalli which KCR fears will be stolen if people visit there to check paddy cultivation?” he further asked. Reddy said that the Congress party, with its Rachaband programme, was looking to instil confidence among farmers and stop them from committing suicide. He also said that there were no laws preventing farmers from cultivating the crop of their choice and getting the Minimum Support Price from the state and Centre. Reddy also claimed that both TRS and BJP were equally responsible for the rising unemployment in Telangana State.

Image: ANI