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BJP promises sops to weavers if voted to power in Telangana
The Hindu
Bandi Sanjay addresses a public meeting in Pochampally on the occasion of National Handloom Day and as part of his ongoing ‘Praja Sangrama Yatra’ (third phase)
The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party promised to purchase entire handloom woven cloth from weavers, geo-tag the weaving machines and build houses for the poor of the community if it comes to power in the next elections, assured party president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday.
The Karimnagar MP accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of being responsible for the sorry plight of the weaving community leading to many suicides as he did not bother to fulfil any of the assurances made to them in the last eight years.
Addressing a public meeting at Pochampally on the occasion of the National Handloom Day and as part of his ongoing ‘Praja Sangrama Yatra’ (third phase), the BJP leader said that the handloom sector got an impetus in recent times only because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts, leading to exports worth ₹8,000 crore, and that lot of funds have been released for the development of the sector but the State government failed to implement the same.
It includes ₹700 crore under the Silk Samagra Scheme, subsidy for spindles and handloom cluster development, insurance schemes and so on. Continuing his walkathon for the fifth day from Muktapur, Mr. Sanjay Kumar had earlier interacted with the weavers families and learnt about their difficulties first hand at their own homes. He recalled the historic moments of the area like the Bhoodhan movement of Vinobha Bhave, establishment of weavers societies by Konda Lakshaman Bapuji, and so on.
He charged the Chief Minister of being “arrogant” and remembering national leaders and welfare schemes only before the elections and forgetting about them on assuming power. “Did he not promise subsidy to cotton spindles and a minimum wage of ₹15,000? What has happened to the ₹100 crore fund for the handlooms? Insurance to the weavers was promised a year ago but yet to reach the people,” he said.
The BJP leader questioned the Chief Minister’s step to provide financial aid to the farmers of Punjab, ignoring the plight of farmers and weavers in distress here. “Mr. Rao should open his eyes and ensure the government rushes to the aid of the weavers. If his government was functioning well, where will be the need for me to take out a padayatra,” he asked and sought support to throw out the TRS regime to elect a BJP government for the poor. The walk was for about 13 km today with night halt near Jiblakpalle.
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The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.