Taking strong objection to the support extended by the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government to Monday's Bharat bandh called by the Congress and Left parties, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Somu Veerraju said it was intended to divert the people's attention from various problems faced by them.
"The government has failed on all fronts. Instead of setting its house in order, it is pushing the blame for its failures on to the Centre", he alleged.
In a press release, Mr. Veerraju said it was due to the lack of awareness that the farm laws were being criticised and motives attributed to their passage by the Central government.
He asserted that the reforms initiated by the Centre would eliminate middlepersons from the agriculture sector, guarantee remunerative prices for various crops and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country through the e-marketing platform.
However, he said, the opposition parties spread falsehoods among the gullible farmers. The State government's support of the bandh was in furtherance of the ruling party's agenda, he observed.
He maintained that the parties that supported the bandh were reluctant in taking part in the negotiations on the farm acts as they were bent on politicising the issues.
The objective of the farmers' protests and the bandh was to destabilise the Modi government, he alleged.
Mr. Veerraju, in the release, also said the proposed sale of the Central government's stake in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant was part of its policy that is aimed at pulling loss-making PSUs out of the red, he added.