Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao along with Telangana Rashtra Samithi leaders including its MPs, MLAs, ministers and ZPTC leaders staged a protest against the Central government over the issue of paddy procurement in Hyderabad on Thursday.
The protest in Indira Park began at 11 am and will continue till 2 pm today. "At 62 lakh acres of land in Telangana, paddy production is around 1 crore metric ton. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is buying 60 lakh ton we have asked them what about the other 40 lakh ton. If you are not ready to buy another 40 ton make it clear," said Jeevan Reddy, Armoor MLA.
"We are giving an ultimatum of 48 hours. Any party in history, who have not listened to farmers have lost power. BJP is an anti-farmer party. If they won't listen to framers then will also lose," he added.
TRS's Telangana government and BJP's Central government are at loggerheads on the issue of paddy procurement for some days now.
Earlier, KCR stated that it is the responsibility of the central government to procure the crop cultivated by the farmers.
The chief minister alleged that the Centre is buying the whole paddy in Punjab but refusing to buy grain in Telangana. He said that the central government is not allowing FCI to buy grain in Yasangi.
He said 50 days ago, he had requested Food minister Piyush Goyal to set the target for paddy procurement from the state. But there has been no response from the Centre, he alleged. He said he has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday on the issue.
"For 50 days they ignored our pleas. We have thrown away posts in the past during Telangana struggle. We will take leadership in this," the Chief Minister said, addressing people in a protest site in Hyderabad.
"We started this battle because our farming community may suffer due to the Centre's policies... We say you change your attitude, come to the rescue of farmers, withdraw the autocratic farm laws and change the policy to install metres at agriculture pump sets. This battle is not going to end today," he added.
