BJP to Launch Three‑day "Rythu Gosa – BJP Bharosa" Bus Yatra
Vishweshwar Reddy said the Centre provides farmers an average support package of around Rs.1.2 lakh per farmer through measures such as subsidised urea, drip irrigation and MSP purchases etc.
Hyderabad: Starting Monday, the BJP will launch a three‑day bus yatra to draw attention to the distress of farmers over alleged shortfalls in state procurement of paddy and other grains. The ‘Rythu Gosa-BJP Bharosa’ yatra would be led by the party’s state unit president N. Ramchander Rao and feature party MPs, MLAs, MLCs and senior leaders.
It will start from Kulkachera mandal in Chevella and proceed through Gajwel, Jangaon, Warangal and Peddapally. The yatra passes through procurement centres and market yards where farmers have complained of delays and logistical problems, and to press the state government to accelerate procurement before the monsoon, which begins next week.
Speaking to reporters, BJP floor leader A. Maheshwar Reddy, Chevella MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, Sirpur MLA Palvai Harish Babu and other party leaders accused the state government of a “miserable” failure to procure crops. They said market yards are short of gunny bags and lorries to lift produce, leaving farmers stranded with harvested grain.
The leaders said that the government initially announced procurement of 90 lakh metric tonnes of paddy against an estimated 141 lakh metric tonnes produced in the state. They said the chief minister’s claim that 45 lakh tonnes have already been procured implies that only about 30 per cent of the paddy crop has been purchased so far.
Maheshwar Reddy also alleged irregularities by millers, claiming that for every 40‑kg bag delivered by farmers, millers collect an extra 4 kg; if procurement reaches 90 lakh tonnes, he said this would amount to an additional 9 lakh tonnes siphoned off, and asked who benefits from that loss.
The BJP leaders further accused the state of paying lip service to procurement of other crops. They said only 14.89 lakh tonnes of maize have been procured out of a production of 43 lakh tonnes, 50,000 tonnes of jowar out of 8.5 lakh tonnes, and only 3,690 tonnes of sunflower out of 4.84 lakh tonnes.
Vishweshwar Reddy said the Centre provides farmers an average support package of around Rs.1.2 lakh per farmer through measures such as subsidised urea, drip irrigation and MSP purchases etc. He added that Telangana farmers receive comparatively more support — pointing to the state’s high per‑capita urea consumption — yet charged that the state government has failed to deliver on procurement and other fronts.