TRS stages dharna to push Centre for paddy purchase

Simultaneously, the TRS MPs gave a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in New Delhi, seeking to move a privilege motion against Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Piyush Goyal for allegedly misleading Parliament over the issue of export of boiled rice to other countries.

Leaders and workers of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Monday staged a dharna in all block headquarters across the state as part of a week-long agitation to mount pressure on the Centre to purchase paddy produced during the Yasangi (Rabi) season.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, accompanied by his wife Shobha, daughter K Kavitha and others, flew down to New Delhi late on Sunday. (ANI File)

Simultaneously, the TRS MPs gave a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in New Delhi, seeking to move a privilege motion against Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Piyush Goyal for allegedly misleading Parliament over the issue of export of boiled rice to other countries.

The TRS public representatives, including ministers, MLAs and MLCs, besides party leaders in the districts, along with farmers participated in the dharnas and held relay hunger strikes.

The party announced that it would hold blockades on the national highways, connecting Vijayawada, Mumbai, Nagpur and Bengaluru, on April 6, followed by protest demonstrations at all district headquarters, except in Hyderabad on April 7.

On April 8, the party gave a call for black flag demonstrations in all the 12,769 gram panchayats and on April 11, all elected representatives including MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Mayors, ZP chairpersons, chairmen of corporations and Rythu Bandhu convenors would stage a demonstration in New Delhi.

Participating in the agitation at Karimnagar, state civil supplies minister Gangula Kamalakar alleged that the Centre was discriminating against Telangana by refusing to purchase boiled rice from farmers during the Rabi season.

“When I met Union minister Piyush Goyal last week, he rejected the demand stating that the Centre had enough boiled rice for four years. When we told him that if the paddy produced in the season is directly milled, it would result in broken rice, he advised us to make the Telangana people eat broken rice. This is nothing but humiliating the people,” Kamalakar said.

He said it was the responsibility of the central government to purchase different varieties of the crops produced by farmers across the country. “The Union minister also rejected the demand that the Food Corporation of India purchase paddy, instead of rice,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a letter to Om Birla on Monday, the TRS MPs including Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, Venkatesh Netha, Manne Srinivas Reddy, Nama Nageswara Rao, BB Patil, Kavitha Malothu and G Ranjith Reddy, said the union minister had misled the House saying India cannot export boiled rice under WTO restrictions and the state governments must fend for themselves.

The MPs pointed out that India had been exporting million tonnes of boiled rice to other countries and it was clearly seen in the government’s website. “It is nothing but misleading the nation and hence, we have issued the privilege notice against the minister,” Ranjith Reddy said.

KCR in Delhi, may seek appointment of Modi

Meanwhile, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, accompanied by his wife Shobha, daughter K Kavitha and others, flew down to New Delhi late on Sunday.

Though there was no information from the CMO about the purpose of his visit to the national capital, a TRS functionary familiar with the development said it was purely a private visit and he and his wife would undergo medical check-ups in All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

However, the party leader did not rule out the possibility of KCR meeting the Union ministers to pursue the demand for procurement of paddy, which has become a bone of contention between the state and the Centre.

“The chief minister might seek an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next couple of days. If he gets the appointment, he would apprise Modi of the gravity of the situation in the state on the paddy issue. If he doesn’t get it, he can make it a big political issue, claiming that the Prime Minister was not interested in resolving the farmers’ issue,” the party leader said.