BRS organises Rythu Deeksha across State, to continue protests demanding Rs 500 bonus for paddy

HYDERABAD: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) activists in all Assembly constituencies in the State sat on ‘Rythu Deeksha’ on Saturday demanding Rs 20 lakh for each of the 209 farmers who died by suicide after the Congress came to power, Rs 25,000 per acre for crop damage and Rs 500 bonus per quintal of paddy.

BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR), during the event in Sircilla, said that the 110 days of the Congress rule had pushed the State into an agrarian crisis. “While KCR bore the brunt of severe heat and could visit farmers in five districts, the Government, with its huge official machinery, was unable to come to the rescue of the farmers,” KTR observed.

KTR said that the Congress taking shelter under the Model Code of Conduct was trying to avoid paying the Rs 500 bonus. “We will continue our Deeksha in front of every paddy procurement center in the State from tomorrow and demand the bonus,” KTR said.

Reminding the Congress whose leaders wrote to the ECI urging it to stop Rythu Bandhu's payment just before elections, KTR said that the BRS would never try to stop any benefit meant for farmers. He said that former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had kept Rs 7,000 crore ready for Rythu Bandhu, but could not distribute it as BRS lost the election.

At Sangareddy, former Minister T Harish Rao said that the Rythu Deeksha programme was meant to wake up the Congress Government from deep slumber. “None of the Cabinet Ministers visited the affected agricultural lands. They could criticise BRS but they have to pay what is due to the farmers,” Harish Rao said.

Demanding implementation of a Rs 2 lakh crop loan waiver, Rs 15,000 under Rythu Bandhu, Rs 500 bonus, Rs 12,000 for farm labour, and Rs 15,000 to tenant farmers, Harish Rao said that even the BJP Government at the Centre had failed to implement Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops. He urged farmers not to resort to suicide.

In Suryapet, former Minister G Jagadish Reddy participated in Rythu Deeksha and pointed out that while KCR was visiting drought-affected areas of the State on Friday, the State Cabinet was enjoying a cricket match.

In Chennur, BRS cadres protested against the high-handedness of the police who uprooted their tent and threw away the party paraphernalia. However, they continued their protest despite severe heat and raised slogans against Congress MLA Vivek Venkataswamy.