TRS raised paddy issue after its defeat in Huzurabad bypoll: Kishan

Hyderabad: The political heat between the BJP and the TRS over various issues is showing no sign of abating, with the BJP continuing to hit back at the TRS over an allegation that the central government is not allowing the state to implement SC/ST reservations and not purchasing paddy from the state.

On Tuesday, Union Minister and BJP MP from Secunderabad, Kishan Reddy said reservations are implemented by the state government and the Centre will have no objection if quotas are raised as per population strengths. In Manipur and Mizoram, the state governments are taking such a decision, and Telangana can as well do this.

He said Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao and the TRS leaders have begun raising the issue of rice and paddy purchases after the regional party’s defeat at the hands of the BJP in the Huzurabad assembly by-poll. “Andhra Pradesh has no issue with paddy procurement, but Telangana has. The chief minister has a habit of blaming everything on the Centre, he said.

The Union minister said the state, instead, should take up the issues of paddy purchase from this season and of the processing of parboiled rice with rice millers. “The state must take responsibility for the purchase of broken rice. It entered into an agreement before the Huzurabad bypoll but changed its tune after the loss in the byelection. Why were the farmers not told about the agreement before the bypoll,” Kishan Reddy asked.

On TRS’ allegation that the Centre is not granting any new medical college to the state, the central minister said the state did not send proper proposals.