Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K. T. Rama Rao on Saturday told the Telangana State Assembly that all BRS MLAs will resign if the Congress government proves that it is supplying 24-hour electricity to farmers or that it has waived loans of all farmers.
He alleged that the Congress government is making false claims that it is giving round-the-clock uninterrupted power.
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Throwing the challenge during the debate on Rythu Bharosa, the BRS leader told Minister for Roads and Buildings Komatireddy Venkat Reddy that he was ready to come with him to Nalgonda district. “If you can show us even in one log book that 24-hour power is being supplied, all we MLAs will resign,” he said.
Similarly, KTR, as Rama Rao is popularly called, also offered to accompany the minister to any village in Kodangal or Sircilla constituency to check on farm loan waivers. “If you can show that loans of 100 per cent farmers were waived even one village, I will resign as MLA and take retirement from politics,” he said.
The BRS leader slammed the Congress government for not properly implementing the Rythu Bandhu scheme launched by the previous BRS government.
KTR said Congress promised enhanced investment support to farmers under Rythu Bharosa but failed to provide the assistance even under the existing scheme.
He claimed that the BRS started Rythu Bandhu to increase the area under cultivation. Citing the statement made by the government, he said the area under cultivation in the state increased from 1.41 crore acres in 2019-20 to 2.04 crore acres in 2020-21.
KTR mentioned that when the BRS came to power in 2014, Telangana had the second-highest number of farmer suicides in the country. He claimed that due to the measures taken by the BRS during the last 10 years, the farmer suicides came down from 11.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
The BRS leader alleged that the government was planning to impose cuts under the Rythu Bharosa scheme.
He demanded that the Assembly session be extended by 10 days for a comprehensive debate on electricity, irrigation, and Mission Bhagiratha.
The debate saw a sharp exchange of words and challenges and counter-challenges between BRS and Congress MLAs.
Minister Venkat Reddy threw a challenge at the BRS, saying if it could prove that every household was supplied drinking water under Mission Bhagiratha during its rule, he would not seek votes in the next elections.
He alleged that there was Rs 50,000 crore corruption under Mission Bhagiratha. To this, BRS MLA and former minister Harish Rao mentioned that the total cost of the scheme was only Rs 28,000 crore.
Earlier, Minister for Agriculture Tummala Nageswara Rao said the government has not yet formulated the guidelines. He said the guidelines will be framed after taking suggestions from the legislators.
