Hyderabad: Hyderabad district Congress and TPCC Mahila Congress activists burnt effigies of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and minister K.T. Rama Rao at the Nampally main road on Tuesday to protest against Rama Rao’s alleged inappropriate comments on senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Led by DCC president Sameer Waliullah and Mahila Congress president Sunita Rao, Congress workers raised slogans and later burnt the effigies. Congress workers had a minor altercation with the police when they objected to the protest. Party workers were taken into custody and shifted to Begum Bazaar police station.
Speaking to the media, Sameer Waliullah strongly objected to the inappropriate comments made by Rama Rao against Rahul Gandhi, saying that the latter did not know about agriculture. He said that the minister was not only arrogant but also ignorant. He said that the Congress played a significant role in transforming agriculture in India.
Under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the party initiated various development programmes that fostered comprehensive agricultural growth. These programmes included the Green Revolution, which introduced high-yielding varieties of seeds and fertilisers, and the dairy revolution, which promoted the use of modern dairy farming practices. The party also undertook several irrigation projects across the nation to bolster agricultural productivity. As a result, India has made a remarkable turnaround in agricultural production, he said.
“In the early years of independence, the country struggled to meet its own food needs. However, today India is a net exporter of food grains, and it exports its agricultural products to over 250 countries worldwide. The construction of prominent projects like Nagarjunasagar, Srisailam, and Sriramsagar stands as a testament to the accomplishments of the Congress.
The party's initiatives helped transform the country from a food-deficit nation to a net exporter of food grains,” he said while asking Rama Rao to undertake some history lessons.
Sameer Waliullah said that the previous Congress regime waived off the crop loans and freed the farmers from their debts. For the first time in the country, Andhra Pradesh started revolutionary changes by giving free electricity to agriculture. K. Chandrashekar Rao became the Chief Minister because the Congress granted statehood to Telangana and Rama Rao became a minister just because he is Chandrashekar Rao’s son. “Rama Rao has no stature to comment on Rahul Gandhi. He is only trying to divert attention as TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy has exposed the huge scam behind the fake claim of 24-hour power to farmers,” he said.
The Congress leader said that the BRS leaders lost their sleep after Rahul Gandhi unveiled Rythu Declaration in Warangal on May 6, 2022. He said Rahul Gandhi has given specific assurances to farmers concerning waiver of crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh, financial assistance of Rs 15,000 per acre annually and best prices for their crops. Having realised that farmers have welcomed the announcements made by Rahul Gandhi, Rama Rao is making personal attacks
to express his frustration.
Mahila Congress leader Sunitha Rao said that the BRS government has failed to fulfil the promises it made to the farmers both in 2014 and 2018 elections. She said that the farmers were still waiting for their crop loans to be waived.
There are no free fertilisers or subsidies for seeds. Not a single farmer got any compensation for the crop losses caused due to natural disasters like rains and floods since 2014. Telangana is the only state in the country where farmers have no insurance for their crops. Since farmers have decided to teach BRS a lesson in the forthcoming Assembly elections, Rama Rao is trying to divert their attention by making inappropriate comments against Rahul Gandhi.
She demanded that Rama Rao should tender an unconditional apology to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Otherwise, she said Congress workers and farmers would not allow him or any BRS leader to enter their villages.
