KCR blaming Congress govt for drought is ‘evil’: Telangana Agriculture Minister
HYDERABAD: In a strong rebuttal to BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said that it was nothing but an evil instinct to say that the crop losses were due to the failure of the government. The crop losses occurred due to vagaries of nature and dry spells and playing a blame game was not correct, he said. The minister said that even a wretched person would not use the drought-like situation to derive political mileage.
In a statement released on Sunday after KCR inspected damaged crops, the agriculture minister said that the Congress came to power on December 7, 2023. By that time the monsoon season was over and there was no water in Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP). Due to lack of water in the NSP, the then BRS government did not provide water for the Kharif crop. “But, the BRS is now demanding water for the second crop. Their demand is irrational,” Tummala said. He alleged that the BRS was trying to put the blame on the 100-day Congress government.
Even as the neighbouring states diverted waters from the projects, the then BRS government closed its eyes and emptied the projects and reservoirs, the agriculture minister alleged. Now, the situation was such that the state government was requesting other states to release water for meeting drinking water needs, Tummala said.
He also pointed out that the BRS government had assured Rs 1,000 crore aid to farmers, who lost everything during the Godavari floods. But, failed to give a meagre Rs 10 to them. The BRS government never provided succour to the farmers, who lost crops during ten-year rule of BRS, he said. The BRS government did not even provide Rs 10,000 compensation to the farmers, who lost their crops.
Tummala Nageswara Rao alleged that the state government did not release the matching grants to centrally-sponsored schemes like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Soil Health Management and rendered injustice to the farmers. Who was responsible for the damages caused to Medigadda barrage, he asked.