Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that the Telangana state government will not confront the Centre “for the sake of confronting”.
During his reply to the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Chief Minister Rao rejected the demand made by leaders of the Congress party to pass a resolution against the Centre’s three controversial farm laws.
Mr Rao said, “the Centre is supreme and no state government has powers to override Acts made by Parliament.”
However, he said the TRS government will not compromise on the interests of the state and will definitely fight with the Centre, or anyone else, if it hurts the interests of Telangana.
Mr Rao termed the resolutions passed by few state assemblies like Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Kerala against the Centre's farm laws were mere “eye wash”, with no use.
“We don’t believe in such acts, which are merely an eyewash. The Centre is a constitutional government. We are also a constitutional government. We will maintain constitutional relations with the Centre. We will not confront the Centre on every issue. Agriculture is on the concurrent list. If Parliament passes any Act on the subject, listed under the concurrent list, the state governments have to implement them. States cannot override Acts made in Parliament,” he said.
He told the House that he had enquired about the resolutions passed by few state assemblies against Centre’s farm laws and found them to be “meaningless”.
However, Chandrashekar Rao announced government market yards in Telangana will continue to procure food grains from farmers for MSP during the ongoing rabi season, even if the Centre removes market yards.
“I too felt concerned over the Centre’s farm laws. We supported the farmers’ protest. But when I took up this issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he told me that farm laws are for the benefit of farmers and protests against them were due to misunderstanding and a misinformation campaign. The Supreme Court has ordered a stay on these farm laws. There is uncertainty on these farm laws, at present,” he reasoned.
“However, I promise farmers that Telangana will continue market yards and procure food grains from farmers directly for MSP. It is up to farmers to decide whether they want to sell their produce in these market yards or not,” Mr Rao said.
