Rambabu alleged that the Naidu- dispensation has not procured even a single quintal of chilli at support price despite the severe market crisis.
Vijayawada: Former minister and YSR Congress Guntur district president Ambati Rambabu has alleged that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu failed to support the struggling chilli farmers in the state.
Addressing the media at the Guntur camp office, he accused the government of neglecting the crisis and misleading farmers with political theatrics instead of providing real solutions. “The YSRC is ready to wage a legal battle in defence of farmers and will continue its fight against the state government’s anti-farmer policies,” he said.
Rambabu alleged that the Naidu- dispensation has not procured even a single quintal of chilli at support price despite the severe market crisis. He questioned why the government has not facilitated chilli procurement through MarkFed and why it has instead shifted responsibility to the central government.
He said the state government’s stand looked strange as the central government had never intervened for such purchases.
“Under the YSRC government, chilli prices had reached Rs 27,000 per quintal, whereas today, chilli farmers are struggling to sell their produce even at Rs 7,000 per quintal,” he said.
The former minister criticised the state government, saying that it did not heed the horticulture department’s report in January, warning the authorities about declining chilli yields, rising input costs, and falling market prices.
He claimed that it was only after former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy visited the Guntur chilli yard to understand the farmers’ plight that the government chose to respond. However, instead of taking concrete action, the government has resorted to deceptive tactics, he alleged.
Ambati Rambabu also questioned the propriety of the chief minister’s recent letter to Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, urging the central government to intervene. He said the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) never procured chilli in the past.
He criticised the state government for not utilizing MarkFed for procurement. He argued that if the central government were to intervene, the state could facilitate purchases through MarkFed and supply the produce accordingly.
