HYDERABAD: Alleging that the government owes Rs 30,000 crore to farmers under Rythu Bharosa scheme, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Tuesday described its “Ashirvada Sabhas” as political dramas that are aimed at diverting public attention from the severe urea shortage and the hardships faced by ryots across the state.
While farmers were struggling with procurement issues, shortage of urea and the looming threat of drought, the chief minister was busy conducting celebratory events instead of addressing their problems, he alleged.
“For releasing Rythu Bharosa assistance, the government just needs to transfer funds directly into farmers’ accounts. But the Congress government has chosen to organise extravagant public meetings purely for publicity,” he said.
The former minister also alleged that the Congress provided “disastrous administration, turned agriculture into a crisis and denied farmers nearly Rs 30,000 crore under the Rythu Bharosa scheme during the last two-and-a-half years”.
Stating that the Congress failed to provide Rs 15,000 per acre per year to farmers as per its assurance, he claimed that the present government did not pay the Rythu Bharosa amounts on four occasions, affecting nearly 70 lakh farmers across the state.
Rama Rao recalled that agriculture flourished under the 10-year rule of K Chandrasekhar Rao. He claimed that KCR would be remembered forever as a “farmer’s benefactor” and Revanth Reddy as a “betrayer of farmers”.