Kannababu slams PK, Chandrababu over false' paddy claims

Kakinada: Kakinada Rural MLA Kurasala Kannababu on Thursday slammed Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan and Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu over their alleged politics on farmers’ issues, especially paddy procurement, telling them “don’t overestimate yourselves”.

Saying that the two leaders held no influence among the public, Kannababu hit out at their claims of the government shifting paddy overnight, fearful of the duo visiting agriculture fields.

“Is it possible to shift tonnes of paddy overnight from the fields? Telugu Desam and Jana Sena are throwing mud on the government on agriculture matters and they are making a vicious campaign on untimely rains,” he said.  

He said that while Pawan Kalyan was in film shootings and Chandrababu Naidu was resting at his Hyderabad residence, the YSRC government was acting responsibly towards farmers.  

Kannababu also sought to know why Pawan Kalyan did not question Chandrababu Naidu when the latter could not fulfil his promise to waive farmers’ loans during the TD regime.  

He said that these two leaders were in cahoots and were staging incidents, with party activists acting as farmers, and said the YSRC government is not afraid of either of them.

Kannababu said that the government procured 35.41 lakh metric tonnes of paddy in the kharif season for ₹7,233 crore, crediting ₹7,212 crore to 6.4 lakh farmers.

“In the current rabi season, 7.98 lakhs metric tonnes of paddy worth ₹1,629 crore have been purchased, out of which ₹1,277 crore has been paid to farmers. He said that the government would purchase any variety of paddy, even if it has more than prescribed moisture, broken or discoloured,” Kannababu said.

He warned Pawan Kalyan and Chandrababu Naidu against making tours without ascertaining the facts at the ground level and exhorted them to behave socially responsibly over farmers’ issues, without politicising them.

He said that the YSRC government made payments to farmers within five days of purchasing the paddy. He said that as per the instructions of the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, ministers and MLAs are visiting paddy fields to interact with farmers and take steps to purchase the paddy.