Congress will stop Rythu Bandhu in Telangana, just like Karnataka, if voted to power: Harish Rao

HYDERABAD: Telangana Minister for Health and Finance T Harish Rao has accused the Congress of preventing the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu scheme assistance to farmers in Telangana. “The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will win 80 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections and disburse the assistance to farmers on December 6, 2023,” he said.

Speaking to media at the Telangana Bhavan here on Monday, Harish Rao said, “The stand of the Congress is very clear, it follows anti-farmer policies by stopping the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu assistance to farmers. Be it opposition or in power, the Congress is an anti-farmer party. People in Telangana are observing it. In October, it was AICC in-charge of Telangana Manikrao Thakre who filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stop disbursement of Rythu Bandhu assistance to farmers. If the Congress is really committed to farmers’ welfare, why did it file a complaint with the ECI?”

Taking potshots at TPCC president A Revanth Reddy, Harish Rao said that the latter was unaware of agriculture and was the legal heir of N Chandrababu Naidu who termed investment on agriculture pointless. Revanth Reddy even suggested the farmers use 10 HP motors, three hours of power supply enough for farmers and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) was giving alms to farmers in the name of Rythu Bandhu, he said and added that the TPCC president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy also knocked on the doors of the ECI to stall the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu assistance to farmers.

The Finance Minister said that in Karnataka, after the Congress came to power, the Rythu Bandhu scheme was scrapped which affected scores of farmers. “Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and deputy Chief Minister Dk Shiva Kumar should disclose the reasons why the Rythu Bandhu scheme was scrapped in their State. The Karnataka Congress leaders are hatching a conspiracy to prevent the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu assistance to farmers in Telangana,” Harish Rao said.

Harish Rao said that KCR was the founder of the Rythu Bandhu scheme. Despite COVID-19 pandemic and the State faced a financial crunch, the BRS Government gave financial assistance to farmers. In the last six years, KCR gave Rythu Bandhu 11 times to the farmers. Farmers would teach a befitting lesson to the Congress in the upcoming elections for betraying them. Considering a plea made by the BRS Government, the ECI granted permission to disburse Rythu Bandhu assistance to farmers. However, it revoked its permission on Monday to disburse financial aid to farmers under Rythu Bandhu Scheme until polls, taking the objections of the Congress.

“If Revanth Reddy has concern over farmers’ welfare he should welcome the disbursement of Rythu Bandhu assistance to them instead of spitting venom on the pro-farmer BRS Government,” Harish Rao said. Referring to the implementation of five guarantees of the Congress in Karnataka, he criticised that MP Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi were not bothering implementation of assured promises to people after coming to power. Be it power supply to farmers, free transportation to women in KSRTC buses or scholarships to students, all the assured promises were remain unfullfilled burdening the people, he added.

“Instead of meeting the unemployed youth in Hyderabad, Rahul Gandhi should interact with the unemployed youth in Karnataka, where he promised to implement Yuva Shakthi and fill up the vacant posts within 100 days after forming the Government. People in Telangana are not ready to accept the bond papers of the Congress leaders for implementing the assured six guarantees in Telangana,” Harish Rao said.

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress and the BJP for playing with the sentiments of Telangana, Harish Rao said that the UPA had failed to implement Swaminathan Committee recommendations, and the BJP promised to implement it soon after coming to power. Even after a decade, there were no signs in the implementation of the recommendations. The Congress remained a mute spectator in this regard, he said and added that the Congress ruling States such as Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and even Karnataka passed a resolution in Assembly during its budget sessions to install metres agri-meters.

“How can people of Telangana believe the Congress? Why don’t they follow the same strategy in Telangana soon after coming to power? KCR announced in the Assembly that he will not install agri-meters and supply 24- hour to farmers,” Harish Rao said. He added that Union Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman even said that KCR rejected the installation of agri-meters in Telangana and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 crore for not complying with the reforms.