AP Minister slams Naidu for claim over payments for paddy procurement

Vijayawada/Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh Minister for Civil Supplies Kodali Venkateswararao (Nani) on Saturday hit out at TDP president and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for falsely claiming that payments for paddy procurement was done within 48 hours when he was in power and clarified that the YSR Congress Party Government was clearing dues within 21 days of procurement.

He told reporters at Amaravati that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had paid Rs 4,000 crore towards the dues kept pending by the TDP government to farmers, within three months after coming to power in 2019. He has mentioned that both State and Centre have procured 28 lakh tonnes of paddy and paid Rs 1,637 crore to farmers by the time Naidu wrote a letter to the Chief Minister. With directions from the Chief Minister, the government is paying within 21 days of crop procurement and as on date only Rs 1619 crore is yet to be paid.

Kodali Nani said that Centre has to release the pending arrears of about Rs 3,229 crore to the State, and although there has been a delay in clearing those dues, the government has been paying the farmers from the State treasury. He said that Naidu doesn't even know the difference between bran and grain and is afraid of writing a letter to the Centre fearing about his cases. He slammed Naidu for betraying one crore farmer community by promising to waive Rs 85,000 crore farm loans during 2014 elections and his failure to clear even 20% of the promised amount during his five-year tenure.

The Minister rebuked Naidu's son and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh's allegations against the Chief Minister that he was vindictive towards opposition leaders. He said Lokesh had no credibility to criticise the Chief Minister, whose popularity was on the rise due to launching of several pro-poor policies.