Chief Minister Rao will write a letter to PM Modi over the price hike. (File)
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today strongly protested the Central government's decision to increase the price of fertilisers, which according to him, will put the agriculture sector into a crisis and break the backbone of the farming community in the country. Chief Minister Rao will write a letter to PM Modi over the price hike.
The Chief Minister said, "It is highly reprehensible that the central government which promised to double the income of farmers took a U-turn and increased the agriculture expenses. This shows that the BJP government is totally against the farmers."
K Chandrashekar Rao, also known as KCR, had declared at a Maha Dharna of farmers in Hyderabad in November last year that he would take a leadership role on farmers issues in the country.
KCR saw a "deep conspiracy" behind the central government policies and actions to make the lives of farmers miserable. Decisions like installing meters to motors to collect power charges, not linking MNREGA with the farm sector, increasing the fertilisers prices, not purchasing the paddy cultivated by the farmers; all these draconian decisions of the BJP government at the centre have made farmers' life difficult. One should oppose the actions that would make farmers become a labourer in their own land, he remarked.
He also urged the people in the state and across the country to root out the BJP government which is "weakening the rural economy, playing with the farm sector and handing over agriculture sector to the corporates."
The Chief Minister also expressed anguish that the BJP government at the centre removed subsidies on fertilisers, which were given for several decades, and the farmers were left with no option but to take up their ploughs and revolt against the central government.
KCR also made it clear that if the central government fails to withdraw the increased prices of fertilisers, there will be state-wide and countrywide agitations. He also urged the farming community in the state to "expose" the BJP's conspiracy and join the struggle to make the Centre withdraw the fertiliser price hike.