Congress to focus on farming issues for 2023 Telangana polls: Rahul Gandhi

The Congress manifesto for the 2023 Legislative Assembly elections in Telangana will have special focus on farming issues, top party leader Rahul Gandhi said

The Congress manifesto for the 2023 Legislative Assembly elections in Telangana will have special focus on farming issues, which would be prepared after extensive consultations with all stakeholders, top party leader Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday.

Gandhi, who resumed his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Telangana after a four-day Diwali break, had an interaction with farmers and farmers' representatives from different parts of the state.

The suicides of tenant farmers, lack of crop insurance and disaster relief and problems concerning the 'Dharani' land records portal were discussed, AICC General Secretary, incharge of communications, Jairam Ramesh said.

"@RahulGandhi also promised that the Congress manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana will have a very sharp focus on farming issues and will be prepared after the widest possible consultations with all stakeholders," Ramesh tweeted. Observing that 30 per cent peasants in the state are tenant-farmers and they account for 80 per cent of suicides since 2014, Ramesh alleged that the TRS government has failed miserably to provide any relief to bereaved families.

Gandhi met the widows who are still struggling to make ends meet as women farmers, he said. Since Kharif 2020, Telangana does not have any crop insurance scheme nor has it given any compensation for disasters through the 2005 NDMA (National Disaster Management) Act. This has deprived lakhs of farmers of compensation when there is crop loss, the frequency of which has increased due to climate change, the AICC General Secretary claimed. He further alleged that the "much advertised" 'Rythu Bandhu' investment support scheme of the TRS government meant for farmers does not benefit tenant farmers and cultivators in any way.

Rahul Gandhi assured that tenant farmers and those who till the land must be registered and get full benefit of government schemes, including bank loans, direct income transfer and crop insurance. Noting that the farmers also complained of the 'Dharani' scheme in Telangana, Ramesh said it is criminal that a scheme to modernise land records is dispossessing tens of thousands of Dalits, Adivasis and other Backwards castes of their own lands.

After a gap of four days, the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed from Makthal in Narayanpet district of Telangana today.

The yatra kicked off at 6.30 AM from Makthal with state Congress president A Revanth Reddy, MP Uttam Kumar Reddy, CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka and a number of party leaders joining Gandhi.

This is the second day of the yatra in the state. The Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the state via Gudebellur on October 23 morning, after exiting Karnataka.

After a brief march, it took a break from Sunday noon till October 26. Gandhi who left for the national capital on October 23, landed here last night and left for Gudebellur by road.

The Yatra is expected to enter Maharashtra on November 7. It will take a one-day break on November 4.

The Wayanad MP will meet intellectuals, leaders of various communities, including personalities from the sporting, business and entertainment sectors.

He will also visit prayer halls, mosques and temples across Telangana, and will offer prayers, members of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee said. The Bharat Jodo Yatra commenced on September 7 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. Gandhi completed the marathon walk in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, before beginning the Telangana leg of the yatra.