BJP stages protest in Telangana, calls on CM to either buy paddy or resign

As the ruling TRS staged a dharna in New Delhi on Monday over the paddy procurement row, the BJP in Telangana organized a protest here demanding that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao either purchase paddy produced by state's farmers or step down from his post.

Union Minister V Muraleedharan, state BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar and other leaders attended the agitation.

Alleging that the BJP-led NDA government discriminated against Telangana, TRS has taken up a series of protests, including road blockades, for nearly 10 days.

While the TRS government has been demanding that the Centre procure paddy from the state, the union government has maintained that it would buy raw rice.

Telangana BJP president and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar recently alleged that the TRS government's "politicking on paddy procurement" smacks of a large-scale conspiracy to help middlemen make hundreds of crores and diverting the anger of farmers towards the Centre.