HYDERABAD: For the fourth consecutive day on Thursday, TRS MPs disrupted proceedings in both Houses of Parliament demanding the Centre to procure the entire paddy produced in Telangana before staging a walkout.
Speaking to the media later, TRS Parliamentary Party (TRSPP) leader K Keshava Rao said that the climatic conditions in Telangana were suitable only for parboiled rice and demanded that the Centre remove the word “boiled rice”.
Keshava Rao said that the TRS would continue its struggle for justice in Parliament. TRS floor leader in Lok Sabha Nama Nageswara Rao alleged that even as farmers across the State were suffering, the BJP MPs from Telangana remained mum on paddy procurement. He advised BJP MPs not to politicise the issue.
Nama said that they informed the all-party meeting held on November 28 that they would raise the paddy procurement issue. “Despite this, we were not allowed to properly discuss the paddy issue in the Lok Sabha,” he said.
Nama said that though he was allowed to speak on the paddy issue in the Lok Sabha, the Chair cut the mike abruptly. “They can cut the mike, but cannot stifle our voice,” he thundered.
Nama, however, said that if Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy convened a meeting on the paddy issue, the TRS MPs would participate. Otherwise, the Minister concerned should make a statement in the House on paddy procurement from Telangana, he said.
Nama said that Telangana farmers are well aware that Food Security, procurement by FCI and Railways are under the control the Central government and it is the Centre that is creating problems for the farmers of the State.