Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday claimed that Congress will abolish welfare schemes like Rythu Bandhu and free power to farmers, if voted to power in the upcoming Telangana elections. The southern state is set to go to polls on November 30 and counting of votes will be on December 3.
Speaking at different rallies, KCR asked people to compare the 10 years of BRS rule with that of 50 years of the Congress regime in terms of development.
Hitting out at Congress at Palair rally, KCR alleged that farmers in Congress rule suffered due to a shortage of fertilisers and also there was a threat of fake seeds, besides no buyers of paddy.
“Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy says Rythu Bandhu is a waste of public money. Another leader, the present PCC president, says three hours of power is enough for farmers. If the Congress wins (in the polls) they say Ram Ram to Rythu Bandhu and Jai Bhim to Dalit Bandhu. People should decide what kind of situation they would like to be in,” KCR alleged.
The chief minister said people like eminent late agriculture scientist Dr M S Swaminathan and organisations such as the UN also appreciated Rythu Bandhu– an investment support scheme for farmers, when introduced.
Claiming that he is the one who came out with a scheme like Dalit Bandhu for the first time in the country, KCR further said he is not making any promises for the sake of elections but would like to distribute wealth to the people.
Speaking about the achievements of the state during the past 10 years, Rao said Telangana, with three crore tonnes of paddy production per annum, is number two after Punjab.
The CM, who addressed three rallies today, said if the BRS is voted to power again in the state, all the 93 lakh BPL families in Telangana will be provided fine rice and also health insurance. He also promised that the amounts of social pensions and Rythu Bandhu would be gradually, in a phased manner, increased.
Speaking at the rally in Mahabubabad, KCR stressed on the crucial role played by Dharani, and said that every year the state government has been giving Rs 15,000 crore to farmers without any middlemen or bribes to anyone using the data from the portal.
“If Dharani is abolished, middlemen will come,” he said.
Observing that his government has transferred the administrative powers on ownership of lands to farmers themselves (with the introduction of the ‘Dharani’ integrated land records management system), Rao said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is now talking about abolishing Dharani.