HYDERABAD: TRS working president and Textiles Minister KT Rama Rao on Sunday dared BJP president Bandi Sanjay to exert pressure on the Union government and get it to sanction more welfare schemes and development programmes for weavers in the State.
In an open letter to Sanjay, Rama Rao said the TRS government allocated more funds for the textile sector and was even giving subsidies on yarn than previous governments. “Several workers, who had left for Mumbai, Bhiwandi and Surat, have been returning to the State due to the proactive measures taken up by the TRS government for the sake of weavers,” Rama Rao wrote. He wondered who Sanjay could not notice that weaver suicides have stopped in the State under TRS rule.
“The BJP state president should talk about how the Centre scrapped the insurance scheme for weavers, while the Telangana government was extending insurance coverage to them,” Rama Rao pointed out.
He said that Sanjay also should speak on the noncooperation of the Centre for the Kakatiya Mega Textiles Park located in Warangal.“Sanjay should demand the Union government establish national textile research, Indian Institute of Handlooms and Technology and a mega power loom cluster in Telangana,” Rama Rao wrote.
The Minister alleged that the textile sector was in doldrums in the country only due to the lopsided policies of the BJP-led Union government. “It was the BJP government that has imposed tax on handloom products,” Rama Rao recalled.
The TRS working president alleged that Sanjay, during his padayatra, was spreading canards against the textile industry. Rama Rao urged the BJP MP not to shed crocodile tears for weavers and instead raise their issues in the Lok Sabha.