YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) President YS Sharmila on Wednesday, November 10, said that she will sit on a 72-hour protest in Hyderabad from Friday to show solidarity with the state's farmers who are worried over the delay in procurement of paddy by the government. Sharmila, who is sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, claimed that the state government has failed the farmers. She claimed that heaps of paddy were lying across the state as farmers were waiting for several days at the procurement centres.
Speaking to reporters, she said that the farmers were saying that if their paddy was not procured, they will have no option other than to die by suicide. She slammed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government for not coming to the rescue of farmers. She said it was shocking that instead of finding a solution to the problem, the government was asking farmers not to grow paddy.
Referring to the call given by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to TRS cadres to stage a protest in all Assembly constituencies on Friday, November 12, against the Union government for refusing to lift paddy from the state, Sharmila said that this reflects the inefficiency of the government.
The YSRTP leader said that KCR, who had promised to procure every grain, had now gone back on his word. She dismissed the claim by KCR that his government had done a lot for the welfare of farmers and asked if this was true. She also asked why hundreds of farmers had died by suicide during the last seven years.
Sharmila stopped her ongoing Praja Prasthanam Padayatra temporarily from Wednesday, November 10, in view of the election code of conduct for elections to the Legislative Council. Tuesday, November 9, was the 21st day of YSRTP leader's padyatra. She is undertaking the walkathon to expose the alleged failures of the state government on various fronts and to interact with people about their problems.