TDP slams govt over rising debts of farmers : Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar

Former TDP MLA Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar on Wednesday slammed the YSRCP Government for making ‘false claims’ on the farm sector when the national level reports said that 93 per cent farmers’ families were stuck in debts in Andhra Pradesh. Narendra Kumar said that the YSRCP betrayed the farmers at every step in the past two and half years.

CM Jagan Reddy promised in his party manifesto to pay Rs 12,500 to every farmer under Rythu Bharosa but he is gave just Rs 7,500 after coming to power. This came to Rs 13,500 along with Rs 6,000 being given by the Central government. The national level programmes and funds were being used for the publicity of the Chief Minister.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that the Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBK) were only set up with the ulterior motive to give total control to the ruling party leaders. The rates of fertiliser are skyrocketing and the DAP are available only in the black market.

Even the seed is not made available at the RBK centres. AP fell far behind Telangana in the purchase of foodgrain. The Telangana government spent Rs 16,700 crore and purchased 1.40 crore metric tonnes during 2020-`21 while AP spent just Rs 6,700 crore.

Narendra Kumar said that the Jagan Reddy government bought just 14.47 lakh metric tonnes grain during the Kharif season of 2019-20 when compared to 38 lakh metric tonnes in Telangana. During the 2020-’21 Kharif season, the AP government bought just 15.04 lakh metric tonnes as against 41.06 lakh metric tonnes in Telangana.

The maize and jowar purchase centres had only helped the YSRCP leaders to fill their pockets. The CM is not ensuring a fair deal to farmers as his party leaders and middle men were causing severe losses. The ruling party is only deriving undue publicity but not taking true care of the farmers’ well being.