Rahul Gandhi to meet senior TRS leaders amid war on paddy procurement

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the BJP and TRS government and accused them of ‘neglecting their responsibility’ of procuring paddy.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to meet senior Telangana Congress (TRS) leaders, along with state AICC in-charge Manickam Tagore on Wednesday. The meeting will be held at Rahul Gandhi's residence in the national capital. The leaders are likely to discuss the political situation in the state, as well as the recent issue of the 40-lakh digital memberships, as reported by news agency ANI.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (ANI file photo)

This meeting comes a day after Rahul Gandhi and the ruling-TRS indulged in a war of words over the paddy procurement in the state. TRS leaders lashed out at the Congress leader and accused him of ‘shedding crocodile tears’ over the paddy recruitment.

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the BJP and TRS government and accused them of ‘neglecting their responsibility’ of procuring paddy. "It is a shame that the BJP and TRS governments are neglecting their moral responsibility of procuring paddy produced by Telangana farmers and politicising the issue. Stop harassing farmers with anti-farmer activities and buy every grain produced in Telangana," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Telugu on Tuesday.

He further added, “The Congress party will continue to fight on behalf of the farmers until every seed produced in Telangana is procured.”

Responding to this, several TRS leaders joined the war of words on the social media site. State finance minister T Harish Rao lashed out at Gandhi, asking him to “Stop shedding crocodile tears."

“If you wish the welfare of the people of Telangana, join the agitation of TRS MPs in Parliament and expose the attitude of the Central government, which is afflicting the farmers,” he wrote on Twitter.

TRS MLC K. Kavitha also wrote, “Rahul Gandhi, you are an MP and it is not fair to extend solidarity with farmers through Twitter for namesake and political gains. TRS MPs are protesting in the well of Parliament every day, demanding that there should not be different policies for Punjab and other States in paddy procurement."

The meeting between the TRS and Congress leaders also comes ahead of the upcoming state elections which are due next year. TRS currently has 88 seats in the 119 seat assembly, with K Chandrashekhar Rao as the incumbent chief minister of the state. Congress has 19 seats, followed by Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM with seven seats, while the BJP has only one seat in the state.

(With inputs from ANI)