Hyderabad: The Congress on Sunday criticised Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for alleging that there was a “political conspiracy” behind the ransacking of Khammam market yard. Congress Deputy Floor leader in the Assembly, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, dared the CM to visit Khammam market yard. He said that the Congress was ready to prove that the farmers were forced to attack the market yard after local TRS leaders, in nexus with brokers, have started looting farmers by denying them MSP for chilli. He also denied the CM’s allegations of involvement of “outsiders” in the violence.
“Local TRS leaders and brokers are forcing farmers to sell chilli for less than Rs 3,000 per quintal, while it was over Rs 12,000 last year. Unable to bear this, farmers revolted which led to the violence. There were only farmers and no outsiders involved,” Mr Vikramarka said. He added that there were still 3 lakh bags of chilli in the market yard belonging to nearly 20,000 farmers but due to imposition of Section 144 by police, all transactions have come to a halt, adding to the woes of the farmers.
“Police is allowing only 2-3 persons into the market yard at a time, citing Section 144. How is it possible for 20,000 farmers to sell their produce with such restrictions. These kinds of senseless decisions being taken by TRS government will only aggravate matters, not help solve the issues,” Mr Vikramarka said. The Congress MLAs rushed to Khammam soon after the adjournment of Assembly to protest against the arrests and booking of false cases against farmers.
