BRS members continued their agitation in both the Telangana Assembly and Council, demanding the release of Lagacharla farmers arrested and jailed, while insisting on a discussion of the issue in the House
Published Dec 17, 2024 | 9:05 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 17, 2024 | 9:05 PM
The BRS members continued their agitation for the second day (@BRSparty on X)
The BRS members continued their agitation for the second day on Tuesday, 17 December, in both the Houses of Telangana Assembly and Council. They are demanding the release of the farmers of Lagacharla, who were arrested and put in jail.
The BRS members, clad in black, reached both the council and the Assembly in the morning and after the speaker rejected their adjournment motion for a discussion on the issue, they entered into a noisy argument with the speaker and later staged a demonstration in the lobbies.
A few members, sporting handcuffs – moved in the lobbies raising slogans against the government, in a symbolic gesture that the government was acting in an authoritarian manner and was handcuffing the farmers.The adjournment motion was moved by BRS working president and Sircilla MLA KT Rama Rao.
The legislators also raised slogans that the state government should apologise to the farmers of Lagacharla for the inhuman treatment meted out to them by the police.
ఇదేమి రాజ్యం ఇదేమి రాజ్యం లాఠీ రాజ్యం.. లూటీ రాజ్యం, రైతులకు బేడీల సిగ్గు సిగ్గు.
లగచర్ల పేద గిరిజన, దళిత రైతులకు బేడీలు వేసిన కాంగ్రెస్ ప్రభుత్వ వైఖరికి నిరసనగా అసెంబ్లీలో నల్ల చొక్కాలు ధరించి నినాదాలు చేస్తూ, చేతులకు బేడీలు వేసుకొని నిరసన తెలిపిన బీఆర్ఎస్ ఎమ్మెల్యేలు. pic.twitter.com/F3gunnF9Ob
— BRS Party (@BRSparty) December 17, 2024
After the question hour in the Assembly, the BRS and the BJP insisted on a discussion on the Lagacharla issue but the treasury benches, instead wanted the three bills, tabled in the house, to be passed.
When the Opposition stood ground on their demand, the government passed the three bills without any discussion on them. The three bills were: Young India Physical Education and Sports University Bill, Telangana GST Bill and Telangana Universities Amendment Bill. Later, speaker G Prasad Kumar adjourned the House to Wednesday. Chairman G Sukhender Reddy also adjourned the council to Wednesday when the BRS members there, staged similar protests.
While this is so, on the Lagacharla issue, the BRS party staged protests across the state in the morning. In all towns, the party workers went in procession to the Ambedkar statues and placed memoranda at their feet, wishing that the Chief Minister would have a better sense of wisdom. They raised slogans against the government, condemning what they called a dictatorial and authoritarian rule headed by Revanth Reddy. They alleged that the government was opposing bail to farmers who are incarcerated.
Earlier in the day, during question hour in the Assembly, BRS member T Harish Rao and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who is also the finance minister, were locked for some time in an intense verbal duel on the issue of which government had raised how much debt.
Harish Rao said that the RBI had stated that the Congress government in its first year of rule had borrowed ₹1.27 lakh crore and expressed fear that by the end of the five year term, the debt might go upto ₹6.36 lakh crore. He said the Congress leaders were carrying out a misleading campaign on how much debt the BRS raised when it was in power. He pointed out that when it had raised only ₹4.27 lakh crore, the Congress was twisting the facts and was saying that the debt burden had shot upto ₹7 lakh crore. He demanded a discussion on the public debt in the Assembly. The government wants to escape from its responsibility of honouring its promises, showing the debt figures as an excuse, he alleged.
Taking strong exception to Harish Rao’s argument, Bhatti Vikramarka said that they had placed before the poele, the state’s financial position in the form of a White Paper. He said people had a right to know how much debt the previous government had raised. As far as the Congress government is concerned, it was not exceeding the FRBM limit while raising loans. He said he was ready for a discussion on debts with the permission from the speaker. He advised him not to waste the time of the Assembly by speaking lies.
The BRS should answer why it had not honoured its promises of three acres of land to Dalit families and why it had not distributed double bedroom houses to all the poor. He said the government was not concealing how much debt it had raised unlike the previous government, when everything was shrouded in secrecy.
Later in the evening, KTR, addressing party leaders from Kodangal Assembly segment, said the people were disillusioned with the Revanth Reddy rule and that they were asking whether there was any way to change the government. The BRS working president said that his party was ready for any debate on any issue including the formula E Race. If the Congress has any guts, let its leaders come for a debate on issues that concern people, he said.
తెలంగాణ భవన్‌లో కొడంగల్ నియోజకవర్గ కార్యకర్తలు, నాయకుల సమావేశంలో పాల్గొన్న బీఆర్ఎస్ వర్కింగ్ ప్రెసిడెంట్ @KTRBRS, మాజీ మంత్రులు, ఎమ్మెల్యేలు సబితా ఇంద్రారెడ్డి, సత్యవతి రాథోడ్, జగదీశ్ రెడ్డి, ప్రశాంత్ రెడ్డి, ఎమ్మెల్సీలు దేశపతి శ్రీనివాస్, నవీన్ రెడ్డి, గోరేటి వెంకన్న, పార్టీ… pic.twitter.com/Hdsd1DNWTG
— BRS Party (@BRSparty) December 17, 2024
The BRS leader said that it was now close to 35 days since the party leader, Patnam Narender Reddy and Lagacharla farmers were arrested and put in jail. The arguments for bail have concluded and if they do not get bail, the party would move the High Court and then Supreme Court, he said. The BRS leader said that he would renounce politics if Revanth Reddy proves that ₹2 lakh crop loan waiver had been done for all the eligible farmers in any one village. The government had not paid Rythu Bharosa for the khariff season and not even Rythu Bandhu either to the farmers, he alleged.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
