Naidu has no right to talk of farmers' welfare: Karumuri

KAKINADA: Civil supplies minister Karumuri Venkata Nageswara Rao launched a counter-offensive against the ‘Rythu Porubata’ programme taken up by former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to ‘highlight the problems faced by farmers’. TD cadre put up flexies in Tanuku with Naidu’s photos.

In a retaliation of sorts, YSRC cadre, led by Nageswara Rao, erected flexies highlighting the various pro-farmers welfare schemes initiated by the YSRC government.

Rao announced that he would sleep in an agriculture field at Duvva village in Tanuku mandal as there was no grain for the farmers with the government having purchased the entire produce.

Rao told the media at Tanuku on Thursday that Naidu has no moral right to shed crocodile tears for farmers as they had paid a heavy price during the TD rule. He said that when Naidu was voted out in 2019, around Rs 5,000 crore was in arrears for farmers, whose livelihood was sustained by the YSRC government after it cleared all dues.

Naidu not only failed to honour his loan-waiver promise but also withheld release of input subsidy and crop insurance, he said. Today, farmers are happy because the entire crop insurance premium is being paid by the government. The state government paid insurance amounts during cyclones and also had released input subsidies, Rao said.