Telangana CM KCR Gives 24-Hour Deadline To PM Modi Over Paddy Issue At Delhi Protest
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) on Monday warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not play with the sentiments of the farmers. KCR launched a sit-in protest in Delhi over a dispute around the purchase of rice from farmers in his state.
KCR challenged PM Modi over the Centre’s paddy procurement policy. He gave a 24-hour deadline to Prime Minister Modi to decide if the Centre would buy paddy from his state. He said that if Modi doesn’t frame a new agriculture policy, farmers would topple the government soon and the new government will make a new integrated agricultur”e policy.
KCR said, “I warn PM Modi that you can’t mess with farmers. If Modi has the guts, let him arrest me. I tell the PM to buy our food grains. I give you 24 hours, after that, we will take our decision.”
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KCR addressed a protest by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs, MLAs, MLCs and others. The leaders demanded the procurement of 15 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice from the state. Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait also expressed solidarity with the CM at the protest. However, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) has put up several posters on the site, asking the CM to step down.
Earlier, the Centre refused Telangana’s request to buy parboiled rice in the current rabi season. The government said it can buy only raw rice and not parboiled rice because those are not consumed largely in India. Subsequently, the protest started and TRS intensified the protest. KCR also said that farmers are not beggars, and they have the right to seek minimum support price (MSP) for their produce. KCR is the president of TRS.
The protest comes about five months after the centre repealed the three controversial farm laws. Telangana state BJP president Kumar on Saturday alleged that the TRS government is playing dirty politics over paddy procurement.
