KTR makes light of BJP\'s plans to field PM Modi from Mahabubnagar LS seat

Hyderabad: Making light of the BJP's reported plans to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi contest from the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat in 2024, BRS working president and IT minister K.T.Rama Rao asked why the people of Telangana should cast their votes for a Prime Minister who had done nothing for the state in nine years.

He said that the Telangana government had been appealing to the Modi government to address Krishna water sharing dispute and to accord national status for the Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme (PRLIS) but had been ignored.

Addressing a meeting in Narayanpet after laying the foundation stone for development works worth Rs 196 crore, Rama Rao came down heavily on Modi for allegedly pushing the farming community into a crisis. He alleged that the Modi government was contemplating taxing farmer incomes citing a recent article written by PM’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman Bibek Debroy.

Rama Rao stated that farmers were already burdened by rising input costs and were suffering losses due to the poor price for their yields. "If the Modi government goes ahead with income tax on farmer incomes, it will be disastrous for farmers and the agriculture sector," he warned.

The BRS leader said Modi had promised to double farmer incomes by 2022. “Their income has not doubled but their expenditure has doubled due to increase in prices of fuel, urea, pesticides etc,"Rama Rao said.“When income is dwindling, the Modi government was preparing to levy income tax on them. How was this justifiable?" Rama Rao asjed.

He also came down heavily on BJP Telangana leaders for failing to raise long-pending issues of Telangana with the Cenre. Since the BJP state executive meeting was underway at Mahabubnagar, he wanted the BJP leaders to pass resolutions demanding national status for PRLIS and to resolve the Krishna water sharing dispute.

"If the BJP leaders in Telangana have a spine, I demand them to pass these resolutions and prove their commitment to the state," Rama Rao said.