Uttam leads 'Chalo Assembly' protest on farmers’ issues

Hyderabad : Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has strongly condemned the TRS Government for treating ongoing agrarian crisis in the State as non-issue.

Addressing a press conference at Assembly Media Point on Friday, Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with CLP leader K. Jana Reddy, Leader of Opposition in Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir and other senior leaders, described Congress party's 'Chalo Assembly' protest as a success. He reiterated that 'Chalo Assembly' rally was not a show of strength, but a mode of protest to expose the failure of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to honour the promise that he made with the farmers on the floor of the House.

Instead of admitting the failure and taking corrective measures to help the ailing farming community, the TRS Government used force to foil the 'Chalo Assembly' rally. He said over 50,000 farmers and Congress workers from across the Telangana State were arrested by the police. While several leaders and workers were taking into preventive custody two days ago, farmers were chased and arrested from their fields. He warned the police officials against acting like TRS activists.

Stating that the crop loan waiver implemented by the TRS Government did not help the farmers, the TPCC chief said that the Congress party had demanded that the State Government pay the interest amount which got accumulated due to delay in clearing the instalments. "The Chief Minister had agreed to pay the interest on multiple occasion in both Legislative Assembly and Council. However, he did not honour his own commitment. Similarly, he said not a single farmer who lost his crop due to natural calamities has been paid any compensation during the last three years. Similarly, lakhs of farmers were denied crop insurance although they promptly paid their premiums. TRS Government has also failed to help the families of over 3,500 farmers who committed suicide," he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy pointed out the thousands of farmers who grew cotton, maize and paddy have lost their crops due to recent rains. He said that the government did not even enumerate the losses and extended any help. While chilli farmers were denied remunerative prices in last Khariff season, this time cotton farmers are not being paid the MSP of Rs. 4,320 per quintal anywhere in the State. He said that the Congress party only demanded justice for farmers. But KCR viewed all those demands with a narrow political spectrum and preferred pushing lakhs of farmers in further crisis than taking corrective measures. He said that the Congress would not keep quiet until it gets justice for all farmers of Telangana.

The TPCC chief also condemned the conduct of Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meetings of both Legislative Assembly and Council. He said it was shocking that Deputy Speaker Padma Devender Reddy held the BAC meeting while Leaders of Opposition and all Congress MLAs were arrested and kept in police stations. Ridiculing KCR's intention to hold the session for 50 days, he said it would meaningless in a democracy to hold Assembly session even for 500 days by throwing out the entire opposition from the House. He said it was a mandatory practice in the Legislature to allow Leader of Opposition to speak whenever he wants and all members have a right to express and register their protest. However, TRS Government wants to run the House as per their will and not according to the Constitution. He said if KCR wants to hold the Assembly without opposition parties, then he could hold the session at TRS Bhavan itself.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the conditions were not so worse even in erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh. With the formation of Telangana, it was expected that the new State would set good precedents of democracy for the entire country. However, KCR has turned the things from bad to worse.

Earlier in the day, Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with thousands of workers, led the 'Chalo Rally' rally from Gandhi Bhavan. However, hundreds of police personnel, who were deployed around Gandhi Bhavan and other routes, took the TPCC chief and other leaders into custody and shifted them to Madannapet Police Station. Later, they were released. Other leaders and activists of Congress party were also arrested at different places in the city.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said despite arrest of thousands of party workers and farmers and several obstacles created by the police, 'Chalo Assembly' was a grand success and thanked everyone who participated in it.