Increase MSP by 25%, 'Rythu Bandhu' is election gimmick: Congress

Hyderabad : Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Rythu Bandhu scheme launched by the TRS Government today was nothing more than an election gimmick and financial assistance of Rs. 4,000 per acre would not help the farmers. He demanded that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all agriculture produce be increased by 25% immediately.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with other senior leaders including Leader of Opposition in Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir, ex-PCC President Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Kisan Cell chairman M. Kodanda Reddy, MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy and others, addressed a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Thursday and strongly condemned the TRS Government for spending crores of rupees to give advertisements regarding Rythu Bandhu scheme. "Full page advertisements have been published in newspapers of Rajasthan, Karnataka and other States on the occasion of launch of Rythu Bandhu scheme. In what way these advertisements will benefit farmers of Telangana. This is nothing but criminal waste of public money belonging to people of Telangana," alleged Uttam Kumar Reddy.

The TPCC President said it was strange that a man (Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao) who is responsible for suicide of over 4,000 farmers during the last four years is wasting public money in the name of farmers for his personal publicity. "TRS Govt did not pay compensation of Rs. 6 lakh under GO 421 to any of the families of the farmers who committed suicide. While TRS Government had no money to pay compensation, KCR had no time meet the families of farmers.

The Chief Minister did not honour the commitment which he gave on the floor of Assembly that government would pay the interest amount that got accumulated due to split of crop loan waiver amount in four instalments. Although a budget of Rs. 6.75 lakh crore was presented and another Rs. 2.5 lakh crore of loans were borrowed during the last four years, not a single rupee was spent to provide remunerative prices for agriculture produce. Having remained in slumber for four years, KCR woke up in the election year and now trying to act a farmer's friendly," he alleged.

He also pointed out the farmers who lost their crops due to natural calamities were yet to get any assistance from the Centre.

Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the TRS Government has proved to be a curse on farming community. Instead of taking corrective measures to help the farmers who are in distress, KCR Government is playing gimmicks in view of elections. He said if TRS Government is sincere towards farmers, then in addition to the existing MSP, the State Government should pay an additional 25% of MSP on all crops from its own exchequer. It should also pass a resolution demanding the Central Government to increase the MSP by at least 25%. Stating that the Congress supports payment of Rs. 4,000 per acre investment support, he announced that the Congress party would fight for the farmers who are being this assistance.

He reminded that the previous Congress-led UPA regime had waived off crop loans in a single take. Similarly, he said after coming to power in next elections, the Congress Government would waive off crop loans up to Rs. 2 lakh in a single take. He said that the MSP of all crops would be revised and sufficient budget allocations would be made for procurement of crops. Further, he said that the next Congress Government would pay the premium for crop insurance.