HYDERABAD: Accusing the Congress government of misleading the people by partially implementing the farmer loan waiver and pretending to have fulfilled all its commitments, former minister T Harish Rao on Saturday challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to prove him wrong.
“You choose the place, date and time. Let’s debate the farm loan waiver in any district, segment or village — in your constituency or mine,” he said.
Harish was addressing a press conference at the BRS Bhavan in Banjara Hills where he recalled that during the Assembly elections, Revanth claimed that farm loan waiver would cost Rs 40,000 crore and promised to implement it by December 9 as a gift to CPP president Sonia Gandhi. “However, that promise was not kept. Later, in a bid to win the Parliament elections, Revanth said that the loan waiver would cost Rs 31,000 crore and promised to implement it by August 15. However, only Rs 26,000 crore were allocated in the Budget,” Harish said, questioning the discrepancies in the chief minister’s statements. He pointed out that the numbers kept changing, raising doubts about which farmers were excluded and why.
The former minister said that on Independence Day, Revanth claimed the loan waiver was completed. However, crop loans worth only Rs 17,000 crore were actually waived for 22 lakh farmers, far less than the Rs 40,000 crore originally promised. “This shows that Rs 23,000 crore were cut without explanation,” he said.
“The Congress had promised that the loan waiver would benefit 47 lakh farmers, but only 22 lakh benefited, which is just 46% of the promised number,” the former minister said.
He alleged that the Congress effectively deceived about 25 lakh farmers and said that Revanth and his party colleagues were “shamelessly” boasting that they implemented the loan waiver.
He recalled that he resigned for the cause of Telangana without caring about posts and alleged that “Revanth held on to the coattails of TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and even became the chief minister after losing in Kodangal by switching parties”.
Harish also demanded Revanth tender his resignation as he failed to fulfil his promises. “During the elections, Reddy swore in the name of various deities to implement the loan waiver, but he has broken these oaths, betraying not just the farmers but also the gods and goddesses he invoked,” he said.
Consequences if such attacks continue: MLA
Harish condemned the attack on his camp office in Siddipet, saying that it was proof of the Congress’s frustration over its inability to implement loan waiver. He warned of consequences if such acts continued.