Rythu Bandhu across India: K Chandrasekhar Rao

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday said that the flagship programme of Telangana government the Rythu Bandhu, which provides investment support to the farmers, would be implemented in the entire country when the Federal Front he was contemplating comes to power at national level.

Speaking to media persons at Telangana Bhavan after the TRS Legislature Party meeting, Chandrashekar Rao said that the scheme can be implemented in the entire country. “The Federal Front which I am proposing will expand the Rythu Bandhu scheme across the nation. I have an idea how much it would cost... I have an idea whether the budget would permit it or not. It will cost Rs 3 lakh crore to Rs 4 lakh crore for the entire country,” said Rao.  He further said that the Centre allocates Rs 4,000 crore for minorities in the country, which is insufficient, he said.

The TRS president said that as per the officials, the growth rate of Telangana is 29.9 per cent like no other state in the country or no other country. He said that the reasons for this growth rate was good dividends from Singareni, business community paying taxes regularly and happily. He said that another Rs 70,000 crore would be needed for completion of the projects in the state to make realise his dream of providing irrigation facility to one crore acres.

Palamuru and Dindi projects would require Rs 30,000 crore and Sitarama would be taken up with Rs 17,000 crore but the state would raise loan. “By 2024, Telangana State would have receipts and expenditure of about Rs 10 lakh crore,” said Rao adding that the government would be paying Rs 2.4 lakh crore loan and would be getting eligibility for Rs 1.3 lakh crore additional loan. He said that in another one-and-a- half year Kaleshwaram and Sitarama project would get completed and Palamuru works would be in advanced state of completion.

The TRS chief argued that that there was no cooperative federalism in the country and both the Congress and BJP



were one and the same. There should be a new economic and agricultural policy for the entire country, he said adding the farmers are in distress. He lashed out at the Congress for adopting separate policies for different states.

“The CPS (contributory pension scheme) was brought by Congress-led UPA government and the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (former Chief Minister) implemented it in the state and now the same Congress leaders demand its removal. The Telangana BJP opposes this, but no one knows the Centre’s stand on it,” he said. Rao said that the BJP and the Congress have destroyed the rights of the States. The situation is such that the Gram Panchayats are not getting funds and the State government is paying the salaries of the Zilla Parishad Chairmen, he said.

The TRS president said that his party had implemented the party’s manifesto in toto. “We came out with 76 initiatives which included some not mentioned in the manifesto. We did not say that we will give one job in every family. We did not say we will give Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Beema but still we have implemented them. We increased the capacity of godowns from 4 lakh metric tonnes to 25 lakh metric tonnes. There were welfare activities, which were taken up sincerely,” said Rao. He asked how many jobs the earlier Congress and TDP governments gave during their tenure alleging that they were confusing the youth.

The caretaker chief minister said that the unemployed allowance scheme would take shape after five to six months when the next financial year begins. A team would be sent to other states to study the scheme. The government is ready to accommodate about 10 lakh unemployed youth for the allowance, he said. 

Replying to a question, Rao said that the Mission Bhagiratha would be completed by April. He said cases would be filed against the people who make irresponsible statements and also added that action would be taken against the leaders involved in corruption.