India News | TRS Continues to Protest Against Centre over Paddy Procurement

Hyderabad, April 7 (PTI) The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Thursday intensified protests over the paddy procurement issue, demanding that the Centre purchase the entire crop produced in the state during the rabi season.

Also Read | 'Hindi Should Be an Alternative Language to English', Says Home Minister Amit Shah.

TRS working president K T Rama Rao, state Finance and Health minister T Harish Rao, other ministers and legislators took part in the protests across all districts.

Also Read | Pakistan Political Crisis: Supreme Court Reinstates National Assembly, Orders Voting on No-Confidence Motion Against PM Imran Khan.

Attacking the NDA government, Harish Rao said the BJP promised to double the farmers' income. However, it is not so, but the expenditure on farming has doubled, he alleged.

The demonstrations staged today were part of a series of agitations organised by the TRS to mount pressure on the central government to buy the paddy crop harvested in Telangana.

Earlier, the TRS had held protests (in mandal headquarters) and also road blockades.

On April 11, TRS would stage a protest in Delhi with state ministers, TRS MLAs and other public representatives attending it.

The TRS' stir comes amid a war of words between the ruling party and BJP over paddy procurement.

BJP MLA Raja Singh, in an open letter to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today demanded that the state government reduce the burden on common people following the recent hike in electricity charges and also procure rabi season paddy from farmers.

Singh alleged that the ongoing agitation on paddy procurement is an attempt to divert public attention from tariff hike and other problems in the power sector.

The Centre is urging the TRS government to supply raw rice as per an agreement between both the governments and the state should take steps to procure paddy at least now, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)