HYDERABAD: The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leaders and workers on Monday staged demonstrations and held dharnas along with farmers in all the mandal headquarters in the state barring Hyderabad in protest against the Centre's refusal to procure paddy from Telangana in rabi season.
Ministers, TRS MLAs, MLCs and party's other elected representatives from village-level to district-level took part in agitation programmes demanding that the Centre procure paddy from Telangana in rabi. The TRS called for a five-phase agitation programme from April 4 to 11 to step up pressure on the Centre.
The TRS leaders and cadre will hold 'rasta rokos' on all major national and state highways as part of the second phase of agitation on April 6.
Addressing the dharnas, the ministers and TRS MLAs said though the BJP government at the Centre made it clear that it would not procure paddy from Telangana in rabi, the BJP leaders in Telangana provoked farmers to sow paddy in rabi, promising that they would ensure that Centre procured paddy from Telangana.
They said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao alerted Telangana farmers much in advance not to sow paddy in rabi since the Centre refused to procure it, but the state BJP leaders asked farmers to sow paddy stating that state government had no role in paddy procurement. Believing their claims, farmers had sown paddy in 35 lakh acres which reached the harvest stage.
They said 75 lakh tonnes of paddy would come to markets soon but the leaders who promised procurement by Centre disappeared leaving Telangana farmers in the lurch.
