Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Tuesday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his statement which accused the BJP and Telangana government of politicizing the issue of paddy procurement in the state.
"Rahul Gandhi knows nothing about rice (paddy) procurement. He should first understand the issue, the respective role of centre and state in rice procurement," said Reddy.
Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday tweeted that the "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the state are playing politics over the hard work of farmers, ignoring their moral duty to procure paddy."
"Both the governments should stop creating problems for farmers through their anti-farmer policies and procure every grain grown by farmers," tweeted Gandhi.
The Congress party will continue to fight till the last grain of paddy in Telangana is procured by the government, he said.
Targeting Gandhi, Reddy said the Centre has increased the procurement from Telangana manifold since 2014.
"Centre spent Rs 26,600 cr in paddy procurement this year and is ready to spend even Rs 30,000 crores. The centre will procure as much as paddy Telangana wants to sell under the ambit of the already signed agreement," said Reddy.
The Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao had demanded that the Centre should buy the entire Yasangi crop produced in the state on the lines of procurement in Punjab and Haryana.
He had said that a protest will be held in Delhi on April 2 against the Central government over the issue.
Last year, a delegation of Ministers from the State had even met union Ministers to make a clear announcement on paddy procurement, including the quantity. However, there has been no amicable solution obtained to the problem yet.
( With inputs from ANI )
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