Telangana CM stages dharna against Centre's policies

Hyderabad: Demanding the Centre to enhance rice procurement from Telangana and protesting its policies, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, his cabinet colleagues, MPs and state legislators began 'maha dharna' here on Thursday.

Alleging that Telangana's farmers were suffering due to the policies of the Centre, Rao described the 'maha dharna' as the beginning of a struggle to protect the farmers' interests. KCR, as the chief minister is popularly known, declared that the movement will continue till the Centre relents and change its policies to procure rice from Telangana on a par with Punjab.

"This is just the beginning. If necessary we will go to Delhi. We are ready to take it to any extent," said the Chief Minister while formally launching the mega protest at Indira Park in the heart of the city.

He alleged that the Centre's policies were harming the farmers of Telangana at a time when they were moving on the path of prosperity and contributing to the country's progress. He declared that their protest was also in support of farmers of north India who have been demanding the Centre to take back new farm laws.

KCR's entire cabinet, MPs, members of Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, other elected representatives and leaders of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) were participating in the dharna, which began at 11 a.m. and will continue till 2 p.m. A delegation of TRS leaders will later reach Raj Bhavan to submit a representation to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Dismissing BJP's criticism for staging protests despite being in power in the state, KCR recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sat on a 51-hour dharna when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. The TRS chief said it was the responsibility of Narendra Modi to avoid a situation where the chief minister of a state has to sit on dharna.