HYDERABAD: BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao on Sunday alleged that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy misled the entire nation on crop loan waiver. In response to the CM writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, Harish wrote an open letter to Revanth Reddy stating: “It’s unfortunate that you have adopted the tactics of misguiding the people of Telangana with respect to the crop loan till now. It appears that you have extended your tactics of deception to the whole of India.”
“I wish to bring to the notice of the people of this great nation the deception tactics adopted by the Congress government in Telangana,” Harish said while highlighting what the Congress assured the people and what its government did for the state farmers.
“Rahul Gandhi had promised the farmers of Telangana that they will complete the crop loan waiver on December 9, 2023, immediately after forming the government,” he said.
The Siddipet MLA said that the Congress government failed to fulfil its promise and extended the deadline to August 15, 2024 during the Lok Sabha elections.
“The chief minister went a step further and took a vow in the name of every god that he will complete the process of crop loan waiver by August 15 to win the trust of Telangana people,” he added.
“The CM’s claim that the Telangana government has completed the crop loan waiver up to Rs 2 lakh is totally false and it was evident from the data provided by the State Bank of India on September 25 in response to an RTI application filed by me,” Harish said in the letter.
The BRS leader also said that around 5,74,137 farmers had availed loans less than Rs 1 lakh from the SBI but loans of only 2,99,445 farmers have been waived by this government.
“The total number of farmers with loans between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh with SBI is 2,62,341 and only 1,30,915 farmers’ loans have been waived till date. The number of farmers with loans between Rs 1.5 and Rs 2 lakh with SBI is 1,65,607 but only 65,231 farmers’ loans have been waived till date. The data clearly states that almost 5.5 lakh farmers (nearly 50%) who took loans from SBI have not received the benefits of this scheme,” he pointed out.
“The numbers could be on the same lines with respect to other lending banks,” he added.
Harish said that the CM claimed that he would waive the loans of the farmers, who borrowed more than Rs 2 lakh if they clear the amount that exceeds Rs 2 lakh.
“I wish to bring to the notice of this great nation that as per the SBI report, several farmers paid the exceeding amount long before the loans were waived. It’s unfortunate that most of the farmers trusting the chief minister’s words took the private loan with hefty interests to make themselves eligible for the condition put forth by the CM,” he added.