Jagan accuses Andhra govt of neglecting farmers

Hitting out at the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh for its poor response to providing relief to rain-hit farmers, former Congress Member of Parliament Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday said the government would have to bid goodbye to power in the state if it neglected farmers.

"At least now, this government should open its eyes and rectify its mistakes. If it fails to become farmer-friendly, then I warn that the time has arrived for this government to go," he said.

He was addressing a public meeting on the banks of Krishna River in Vijayawada, where he went on a fast for 48 hours to demand adequate compensation for farmers who suffered massive crop losses due to frequent cyclones, heavy rains and floods in the state during the last one year.

The relief package announced by the government failed to stop the suicides by the farmers in distress, he charged.

"While 42 farmers ended their lives before the government announced the relief package, 84 farmers died after the package was announced. Does this government still not feel ashamed of it," he asked.

Stating that the farmers would not have suffered so much had his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy been alive, Jagan said the Congress government lacked the 'sensitivity and spirit' of the late chief minister.

Coming down heavily on Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, who has been on an indefinite hunger strike in Hyderabad for the last six days, Jagan alleged that the former chief minister did not do anything for farmers while in power.

"Naidu described agriculture as a waste when he was in power. He ridiculed my father's promise of free power to farmers. Such a man is now sitting on an indefinite fast. Though he has been fasting for the last six days, his blood pressure and sugar levels have not come down," he alleged.

The Congress government and the main opposition TDP are two sides of the same coin when it came to neglecting the farmers, weavers and others, he charged.

Claiming that the TDP tried to hurt his 48-hour fast programme, he wondered why the main opposition party called for a shut-down on the day he began his fast and called for a road blockade on Thursday when the fast concluded.

The Congress government and the TDP appeared to have an understanding in leaving the farmers to their own fate, Jagan alleged. He said he would intensify his protests on agriculture and farmers' issues. Jagan broke his 48-hour-long fast later with a farmer offering him lemon juice.