HYDERABAD: The BRS continued hammering away at the Congress government for what it called cheating of farmers, and challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to prove that the farm loan waiver had truly reached all farmers.
BRS senior leader and MLA T. Harish Rao, addressing a press conference, said the loan waiver was only partially complete as more than 50 per cent of farmers had been left out. Before Assembly elections, he said, Revanth Reddy had put the cost of the waiver at `40,000 crore, then brought it down to `31,000 crore by the time of the Parliament elections, while the Budget allocated `26,000 crore. Finally, only `17,000 crore worth loans were waived for 22 lakh farmers, he pointed out.
“The Congress promised the waiver will benefit 47 lakh farmers, but only 22 lakh received the benefit,” he added, challenging Revanth Reddy to a debate.
Referring to some persons, allegedly belonging to the Congress, vandalising his MLA office in Siddipet on Friday night, Harish Rao said, “violence will not intimidate the BRS or me.”
“Such attacks aren’t new, but they are unacceptable. In our ten years in power, we never resorted to such tactics,” Harish Rao said. He warned that if such actions continue, there would be serious consequences.
