Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Tuesday challenged BRS chief and Leader of Opposition K. Chandrasekhar Rao to give a list of 200 farmers who died by suicide as he had alleged.
Responding to the former Chief Minister’s claim that 200 farmers ended their lives in 100 days of Congress rule, Revanth Reddy dared him to give names of these farmers within 48 hours saying the government would pay the compensation to their families.
He was talking to media persons after visiting Tukkuguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad to review arrangements for the April 6 public meeting of the Congress, which is scheduled to be addressed by party President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.
The public meeting is being organised by the Congress to announce five guarantees to the nation and the party’s manifesto.
Referring to the visit to KCR, as Chandrasekhar Rao is known, to agricultural fields in Jangaon and Suryapet district two days ago, Revanth Reddy said the BRS chief is playing his own tactics to cover up corruption during the BRS rule and distract from the news of defecting MPs.
The Chief Minister termed KCR a demonetised note of Rs 1,000 in Telangana and remarked whoever keeps it in their pocket will go to jail.
He dared KCR to announce Rs 100 crore for farmers from his party’s Rs 1,500 crore electoral bond fund as he slammed him for blaming the Congress government for drought.
He mentioned that the Congress came to power in December after the onset of winter. “The failure of monsoon was during BRS rule. How can he hold the Congress responsible,” he asked.
Alleging that KCR destroyed the agriculture sector, Revanth Reddy said the BRS chief was shedding crocodile tears for farmers. He said that unlike during BRS rule when the opposition leaders were arrested whenever they planned to undertake a visit, the Congress government facilitated KCR’s visit to farms.
“Instead of being thankful to us for facilitating his visit, he is making baseless allegations against us,” he said.
Revanth Reddy also remarked that if KCR had not lost the Assembly elections, he would not have come out of his farmhouse. “Had he not lost the election, had he not fractured his hip, and had his daughter not gone to jail, he would have been out of bounds for anyone,” he said.