Congress will be lost in Rythu Bandhu tsunami: Telangana Irrigation Minister

MAHBUBNAGAR/HYDERABAD : While IT minister KT Rama Rao has challenged Congress leaders to oppose Rythu Bandhu scheme if they have any guts, his ministerial colleague and irrigation minister T Harish Rao has predicted that the Congress will be swept away in the tsunami created by the scheme intended for farmers in the 2019 elections. “Congress leaders fear that Rythu Bandhu will end their political career and are, therefore, levelling baseless allegations against the government. Instead of making indirect comments against the scheme, they should clearly say that they are opposed to the scheme, if they have any guts,” KTR said while distributing Rythu Bandhu cheques to farmers in Bhoothpur mandal in Mahbubnagar district on Monday. 

Addressing a public meeting, KTR accused the Congress of trying to create a rift between land owners and tenant farmers by demanding that the scheme be extended to tenant farmers. “Congress, apprehending that Rythu Bandhu will further cement the bond between TRS and farmers, is trying to pit tenant farmers against the original land owners for deriving political mileage. Hence my request to land owners that they should pay half of the amount they receive under the scheme to tenant farmers who cultivate their land,” he suggested and asked the district collector to hand over Rythu Bandhu cheques to farmers who migrated to other areas in search of livelihood whenever they came back to their native villages.

The IT minister said the then united Mahbubnagar district was neglected by Andhra rulers in the erstwhile united state but in the new state of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao gave top priority to providing irrigation facilities in the district.Harish Rao said that as farmers were busy collecting Rythu Bandhu cheques, the ongoing bus yatra of Congress  became an utter flop with no people attending it.

After distributing Rythu Bandhu cheques in the Narayankhed constituency on Monday, Harish ridiculed that the Congress had fewer MLAs and more chief ministerial candidates. Even though polls were not announced, Congress leaders were busy declaring themselves as CM candidates, he remarked. Harish Rao demanded that BJP state president K Laxman apologise to the farming community for the comments made by his party leaders that ryots were utilising the investment subsidy money for buying beer.