"Give You 24 Hours": Telangana's KCR Sows New Farm Challenge For PM Modi
NDTV
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders led by KCR launched a day-long dharna against the centre on Monday in the national capital, demanding procurement of 15 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice from the state.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao set up a fresh agrarian confrontation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi just months after the central government's climbdown on new agricultural laws, as he launched a sit-in protest in Delhi on Monday over a dispute involving the purchase of rice from farmers in his state.
"If Modi has the guts, let him arrest me... With folded hands, I tell the PM and [Union Food Minister] Piyush Goyal. Please buy our food grains. I give you 24 hours, after that, we will take our decision," said the leader who has been on the warpath with PM Modi for several months.
"Telangana demands their right. I would like to say to the PM to frame a new agriculture policy, and we will also contribute to that. If you do not do it, then you will be removed and the new government will make a new integrated agriculture policy," KCR said.
"Don't play with sentiments of farmers who have the power to topple governments. Farmers are not beggars," he added.
