Vijayawada: YSR Congress claimed to have Rs 4,000 crore debts left behind by Telugu Desam to farmers, and denied allegations of TD that no payments were made to paddy farmers since last Rabi.
Minister for civil supplies Kodali Venkateswara Rao alias Nani on Saturday flayed TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu for falsely claiming that payments for paddy procurement were made within 48 hours during the TD rule and clarified that the YSRC government cleared over Rs 960 crore pending arrears not cleared by the previous government towards paddy procurement.
Speaking to the media, the minister stated that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had paid Rs 4,000 crore towards the dues kept pending by the TD government to farmers within three months of coming to power in 2019. He mentioned that both the state and the Centre procured 28 lakh metric tonnes of paddy and paid Rs 1,637 crore to farmers by the time Naidu wrote a letter to the Chief Minister. He mentioned that following directions from the Chief Minister, the government is paying within 21 days of crop procurement and as on date only Rs 1,619 crore needed to be paid.
Minister Nani said that the Centre has to release the pending arrears of about Rs 3,229 crore to the state, and although there has been a delay in clearing those dues, the government has been paying the farmers from the state treasury. He said that Naidu did not even know the difference between bran and grain and is afraid of writing a letter to the Centre, fearing about his cases. He slammed Naidu for betraying one crore farmer community by promising to waive Rs 85,000 crore farm loans during 2014 elections and not even clearing 20 per cent of the promised amount in his five-year rule.
Meanwhile, the minister also rebuked Nara Lokesh’s allegations against the CM being vindictive towards the opposition and said that he was screaming like a madman confined to his house and Zoom app. He warned Lokesh to keep mouth under control while levelling charges against or addressing the Chief Minister. He stated that many YSRC leaders were assassinated during the TD regime and it was not reasonable to attribute such incidents in the villages to the government.
Minister Nani said that it was Naidu who backstabbed his father-in-law N.T. Rama Rao to gain power and the same person brought the law to prevent the CBI from entering the state just to safeguard himself. He questioned Naidu whether any CBI inquiry was ordered during the 14 years of his ruling.
