RAJANNA-SIRCILLA: Mounting a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao said on Thursday that the PM favours corporates over farmers. He said that the Centre had been withdrawing the subsidies for the people while writing off huge loans borrowed by corporate houses.
“The Centre’s move to privatise the power sector and paddy procurement was an alarm for the farmers in the country,” the Minister said.Speaking to the media after distributing Bathukamma sarees among women at the District Collectorate auditorium in Sircilla, he said that the Centre was insulting the people of Telangana. “When we requested the Centre to procure paddy, a Union Minister said that the people of Telangana could eat broken rice, and there was no space for more procurement,” he said.
Similarly, he said the privatisation of coal blocks was a conspiracy. “Indian coal reserves have enough coal to last Telangana 100 years, but the Centre keeps importing thousand of tonnes from Australia. The Centre won’t buy Singareni coal for Rs 3,000 per tonne but procure the Australian coal at Rs 35,000 per tonne,” he added.
He said the Centre has been taking an anti-farmer posture while as Telangana government had always worked for their welfare. “If the Centre continues in this direction, the agriculture sector will soon plunge into a deep crisis,” he said.Since Modi assumed power, he said, India had slipped below Pakistan and Bangladesh on Global Hunger Index.