The state government has taken the farmers for a ride by not implementing crop loan waivers for all of them, KT Rama Rao said.
Published Aug 21, 2024 | 6:48 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 21, 2024 | 6:48 PM
BRS working president KTR. (X)
BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Wednesday, 21 August, said the regional party would be organising protests across Telangana over the alleged “cheating” by the Congress government in the state in the name of loan waiver.
The state government has taken the farmers for a ride by not implementing crop loan waivers for all of them, the Sircilla MLA said.
He said that even though two deadlines the Congress had promised passed by, the loan waivers were not fully implemented and it was a betrayal of the trust they reposed in the party.
Ahead of the state elections, the Congress had promised that if the party came to power in Telangana it would waive farmers’ crop loans of up to ₹2 lakhs and set a deadline of 9 December last year. Later, the party shifted the deadline to 15 August this year.
Rama Rao said the BRS will hunt Congress down until it waives the loans of all farmers
“The chief minister and the ministers are issuing conflicting statements on the loan waiver. Who should the farmers trust? Those farmers who are demanding waiver of their loans are being arrested under non-bailable laws,” the former state minister said.
BRS called for dharnas across the state on Thursday to bring pressure on the government to waive crop loans fully.
“The chief minister used abusive language against the BRS only to divert the attention of the people from this burning issue. The talk of waiver of the lions is all sizzle and no steak. The CM says that all the farmers have been covered under loan waiver but the ministers issue statements to the contrary,” he said.
“Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy said the loan waiver process is still going on. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who is also finance minister, says that till now only ₹7,500 crore had been credited to farmers’ accounts. Had the loan waiver been implemented fully why would farmers stage demonstrations on the roads? No political party is behind the farmers. They are organising protests on their own,” Rama Rao said.
He said the loan waiver was like salami slicing.
“The government initially said that it would require ₹40,000 crore for loan waiver. Now the government has brought it down to ₹7,500 crore,” he said.
Rama Rao said that in Bazar Hatnoor in Talamadugu Mandal in Adilabad district, the police registered non-bailable cases against the farmers for demanding the crop loan waiver.
The BRS demands the withdrawal of cases against them, he said.
He wanted the chief minister to be booked under a cheating case for letting down the farmers.
“The government should spell out when it would waive the loans of all farmers. The party workers across the state should stage demonstrations in the state after performing a “palabhishekam” to Telangana Talli statues,” Rama Rao said.
“In five branches of banks in Kosgi Mandal in Kodangal constituency from where A Revanth Reddy was elected to Assembly, only 8,527 of 20,239 farmers received crop loan waiver money. The same story is repeated in every village,” he said.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
