HYDERABAD: BRS working president KT Rama Rao dared Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to resign as Kodangal MLA and contest again from the same constituency. “If the BRS candidate’s victory margin is less than 50,000 votes in the Kodangal bypoll, I will take political sanyas (renounce),” the Sircilla MLA said, adding that the BRS candidate, Patnam Narender Reddy, would not even need to campaign and could remain at home, yet the pink party would still win by over 50,000 votes.
During his visit to Lagcherla in Kodangal on Monday, Rama Rao met with farmers and alleged that the Congress government had acquired their lands only to hand them over to the chief minister’s relatives. He said Kodangal residents had been fighting against the Congress government for a year and protesting the “forced acquisition of fertile lands”. He also recalled that women from Lambada community in the region had travelled to Delhi to lodge a complaint with the Centre.
Stating that each acre of land in Lagcherla was worth around Rs 70 lakh, the BRS leader accused the government of offering only Rs 10 lakh per acre. “This forced the farmers to launch an agitation,” he said. Additionally, he mentioned that a woman farmer, Jyothi, who had participated in the protests, had recently given birth to a baby, whom he named Bhumi as a tribute to their struggle for land rights.
If voted to power in the next polls, Rama Rao announced, in addition to the government’s compensation, the BRS would provide another Rs 5 lakh per acre. “Revanth should take this amount and set up pharma units on his own land,” he said, reiterating BRS’ support for Lagcherla farmers and expressing confidence that the pink party would defeat the Congress in the next elections.
Listing the Congress government’s unfulfilled promises, the BRS working president pointed out that although Rs 49,500 crore was needed for loan waivers, the government had disbursed only Rs 11,000 crore. He also criticised the Congress over allegedly failing to deliver on its promises of providing one tola of gold and a scooter to women.
In contrast, he highlighted that the previous BRS government had disbursed Rs 73,000 crore under Rythu Bandhu. He cautioned farmers that after the local body elections, the Congress government would stop disbursing Rythu Bharosa funds. “As Revanth failed to provide Rs 15,000 under Rythu Bharosa, farmers should file a cheating case against him,” Rama Rao said.