Farmers' conditions deteriorating in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president and principal opposition leader in Andhra Pradesh expressed concern over the alleged deteriorating conditions of farmers in the State due to the ruling party's indifference in the past 20 months.

"It was only because of the anti-farmer policies of the Jagan Mohan Reddy regime that over 1,029 farmers committed suicide. Andhra Pradesh has come to stand in the third place in the country in farmers' suicides," claimed Naidu. He alleged that the State stood second in tenant farmers suicides.

Naidu made these remarks as he addressed party leaders from Machilipatnam Lok Sabha constituency from his home in Hyderabad through a video conference on Wednesday. "Suicides of farmers and farm workers went up by 55 per cent. This was as per the records of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). It showed that the farmers in Andhra Pradesh were desperate and depressed because of the insensible Jagan Mohan Reddy regime," he alleged. According to Naidu, farmers are being targeted overall with fraudulent activities by the incumbent party. He deplored that alleged land grabbers and gangs from YSRCP are setting their sights on the lands of farmers and termed the ruling party leaders' utterances of Buhakku - Buraksha (Right to land and protection to land) as the devil quoting scriptures.

"Where was the need for using costly granite stones for survey stones which would be sunk into the ground for up to half their size. Moreover, a Tughlaq decision was taken to sculpt Jagan Mohan Reddy photos on the survey stones," assailed the TDP supremo. Naidu mocked that these kinds of decisions were prompting him to call Reddy Tughlaq 2.0.

He called upon his party cadres to intensify agitation against the government for the sake of farmers and agricultural workers. "TDP leaders should stand by them and extend all kinds of support. Psychological support should be extended to the families of farmers who committed suicide," he said. The opposition leader called his party members to expose the alleged land scams and anti-farmer policies of YSRCP ministers and MLAs.

He also claimed that the state government has become unpopular because of false cases and arrests on innocent people. "The same people who gave a huge victory would give a rude blow to the CM who was acting strangely and unreasonably out of arrogance and ignorance. In just 20 months, the YSRCP leaders' atrocities and misdeeds had reached a saturation point," he alleged. (IANS)