The APCC Chief Sharmila was stopped by the police on Friday as she was leaving Vijayawada’s Andhra Ratna Bhavan in a tractor to meet Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in the Assembly on farmers’ issues. This led to a tense situation at Vijayawada’s Andhra Ratna Bhavan. A scuffle broke out between Congress workers and the police.
Sharmila made it clear that she would not stop her agitation until she was given a chance to meet the Chief Minister. Sharmila criticized that farmers in the state are being killed for not getting a fair price, and that it is shameful that farmers are taking their lives in the third place in suicides.
Earlier, she led a massive protest in Vijayawada demanding Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for farmers’ produce. In a unique show of solidarity with the farming community, she took out the rally on a tractor, symbolizing the struggles of cultivators. Hundreds of Congress workers and supporters marched alongside, raising slogans in support of farmers’ rights.
Sharmila alleged that the situation of farmers in the state is indescribable and that the coalition government is not taking care of their problems. She said that once there was a farmer king in Andhra, and that agriculture was in a golden age under YSR. She called the state Annapurna.
She recalled that YS first signed on free electricity and waived off 12 billion rupees of arrears. She recalled that YSR is a farmer’s partisan. Sharmila alleged that there is no help for agriculture in the state at present and all subsidy schemes have been lifted. She deplored that there is no security for the farmers in the state and that the harvested crop is not remunerated.
Sharmila lamented that CM Chandrababu cheated the farmers and made big words in the elections. She recalled that he promised to provide a remunerative price for farmers, but Chandrababu’s words have nothing to do with his actions. Is the price of tomato two rupees? Will the price of onion be 50 rupees per quintal?, she asked.
Sharmila criticized that no crop has received remunerative prices in the state. She deplored that CM Chandrababu promised Rs 12,000 for chilli but not even Rs 6,000 was given. Likewise, she said that CM promised Rs 3,300 MSP for sorghum, but he did not get a price of Rs 2,000. She expressed concern that he could not even give Rs 3,000 to tobacco farmers when they should have got Rs 18,000.
In the same way, she deplored that they could not even give Rs 15,000 per ton to banana farmers when they should have got Rs 30,000. She also pointed out that there is no profit for any crop like pulses. She recalled that they promised Rs 8 to tomato farmers if the price decreases, but the market price per kilo is not even 2 rupees.
