HYDERABAD: BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday said that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s call for a struggle against the Centre regarding the procurement of paddy in Rabi season was a political stunt, clarifying that the Centre had no problem in procuring raw rice in Rabi.
Addressing the media at the BJP party office in Nampally, he disclosed that it was the State government that submitted to the Centre in New Delhi on February 25, that it wouldn’t be procuring the Rabi paddy. This was when the FCI had asked the State to provide an estimate of paddy production in Telangana.
“If there is a problem with grain splitting in Rabi, why don’t you compensate the farmers for the loss by giving bonus? If you want to promote alternative crops, why don’t you give them a bonus? Have you ever given any bonus to save the farmers,” he asked the CM.
He also alleged that 40,000-tonne paddy missing from FCI godowns in Warangal district meant that the State government was recycling rice, purchasing from neighbouring states at cheaper prices and delivering it to FCI.