HYDERABAD: The BRS on Saturday stepped up its attacks on the Congress government with its leaders declaring that the party will continue to fight on behalf of the farmers till the government pays compensation for crop losses caused by drought-like conditions. The party is demanding immediate release of irrigation water, Rs 25,000 per acre to farmers whose crops have dried, and Rs 25 lakh as ex gratia to families of farmers who committed suicide since the Congress came to power.
The party organised protests in all districts with its senior leaders assuring farmers that the BRS will stand by them. In Sircilla, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao accused the Congress government of deliberately allowing crops to dry up so it can blame the BRS and garner votes.
“While the Congress pushed the farmers into this situation, BRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao was braving the hot sun and is going to villages to meet farmers, and giving them courage and assuring them that party will stand by them. Our party will follow his footsteps and fight for the rights and welfare of farmers,” Rama Rao said.
Starting Sunday, BRS workers and leaders must go to every grain purchase centre and demand the `500 bonus per quintal that was promised by the Congress before the Assembly elections, he said.
In Sangareddy, the BRS protest was led by former minister T. Harish Rao who said the Rythu Deeksha protest by the BRS should be a wake-up call to the government. He said no minister had visited the families of 200 farmers who he claimed had died by suicide, or farmers whose crops have dried up.
