TRS govt. paddy procurement announcement result of BJP prodding: Goyal

Country follows single procurement policy and Centre abides by it, he says

The BJP on Wednesday credited itself for ‘prompting’ Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s announcement that his government would purchase paddy stocks from farmers, as the Centre was unable to do so despite an urging by the State.

Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal, addressing a presser at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, refuted the criticism by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)-led government. He said the country followed a single procurement policy and that the Centre abided by it.

"Any State government, which wants to supplement the Central procurement through their own programme is welcome," he stated. "The BJP had assured the Telangana farmers that if it comes to power, which in any case seems imminent, it will procure any product outside the Food Security Act guidelines as State procurement. I think this has prompted the Chief Minister to start this.... BJP leaders from Telangana have showed him the right direction."

The party also said itself winning power in Telangana “is imminent”.

On Tuesday, Mr. Chandrashekar Rao announced that his government would procure the entire paddy stock from farmers by opening procurement centres on a war-footing. He had demanded that the Centre procure the farmers' paddy stock and staged a dharna in the national capital as well. He claimed that his party had "sufficiently" exposed the BJP-led NDA government for not agreeing to the demand and over its "wicked" anti-farmer attitude.

Assembly polls to the State are slated for 2023-end, where the BJP has emerged as a main rival to the ruling TRS after winning some key bypolls. The BJP had also bagged four Lok Sabha seats while the TRS won nine.