Stepping up protest against the Union government’s paddy procurement policy, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Monday, April 11, gave a 24-hour deadline to the Narendra Modi-led government to respond if it will buy paddy from the state. If the Union government fails to respond, KCR threatened to take the protest across the country.
Staging a dharna along with TRS party leaders at Telangana Bhawan in Delhi, KCR warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "Don't play with the sentiments of our farmers, they have power to topple the government."
Farmers are not beggars, they have the right to seek minimum support price (MSP) for their produce, he said. "With folded hands, I urge Modiji and (Union Minister Piyush) Goyal ji to respond to the state's demand on paddy procurement within 24 hours. After that, we will take a call," KCR said.
KCR said that if the Union government does not respond, he would further intensify the protest across the country. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait also expressed solidarity with the CM at the day-long dharna.
This is the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) ' first protest rally in Delhi after coming to power in the state in 2014. The party’s MPs, MLCs, MLAs, and Cabinet ministers sat on dharna. The TRS has intensified the protest and reached Delhi after the Union government refused Telangana's request to buy parboiled rice in the current rabi season. The Union government is saying that it can procure only raw rice and not the parboiled ones .
Meanwhile, ahead of the protest, TRS leader and MLC K Kavitha on Sunday said that the party will fight for the interests of the farmers. Kavitha, the daughter of KCR, said the TRS under the leadership of the Chief Minister will stand and fight for the interests of every farmer.
Alleging that the BJP-led NDA government discriminated against Telangana, the TRS has taken up a series of protests, including road blockades, for nearly a week in Telangana. The protests by TRS came amid a war of words between the TRS and the BJP over the paddy procurement.
The Telangana government had given in writing that it will not supply parboiled rice but raw rice to the Food Corporation of India, Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal had said recently. Telangana state BJP president Kumar on Saturday alleged that the TRS government's "politicking on paddy procurement" smacks of a large-scale conspiracy to help middlemen make crores of rupees and diverting the anger of farmers towards the Union government.