In an open letter to the agriculture community, he said his fight was for them and assured that he would continue the fight till he breathed his last. Stating that his parents believed on mother earth till their last, he said it was unfortunate that some people were trying to attribute to him words he had not stated and were trying to distance farmers from him.
Mr. Naidu has congratulated the farmers who stood steadfast in the face of a series of calamities. He said it was sad that the government was negligent towards their problems despite the unprecedented crisis the farming community was facing now.
Stating that the state government had indulged in scams worth several thousands of rupees, has alleged that Congress leaders had pocketed large sums in the name of Jala Yagnam, Megha Madhanam (cloud seeding), seeds scam, irregularities by mixing plants and bio diesel plantations. He said while the Congress government had provided irrigation facility to just 20 lakh acres after spending Rs. 58,000 crores, the TDP government under him had provided irrigation to 12.5 lakh acres and stabilized an ayacut of another 17 lakh acres by spending just 10,000 crores. The then government had also got river bunds and drains repaired.
Mr. Naidu has said the government needed to reply why the agriculture production in 2010 was just 150 lakh tons while it was 160 lakh tons in 2001. He said it was strange that the government was claiming to be the benefactor of the farmers through jugglery of figures. He said while the government needed to pay Rs. 2250 crores towards the Pavala Vaddi scheme, the amount sanctioned was just Rs. 60 crores and the amount distributed was a paltry Rs. 30 crores. He said that Congress must remember that it was the National Front government under the leadership of late N T Rama Rao that had first waived the crop loans of farmers.
Mr. Naidu has claimed that the power plants established by the TDP government and the reforms it had introduced had served as the base for introduction of free power to farmers by the Congress. He said the Congress promise of 9 hours free power to farmers could not be implemented as the Congress party had once again mismanaged the power sector. He said now a strange situation prevailed when no one was able to state whether signature was affixed on the nine-hour-free power file by former Chief Minister late YSR.
Mr. Naidu said though the state budget had gone up from Rs. 30,000 crores to Rs. 1.30 lakh crores, farmers did not get any benefit, because of the corruption of the government. Strongly criticizing the government’s reported stand that input subsidy could not be more than Rs. 600 an acre, he has questioned how far this stand was reasonable as the farmer had invested Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 30,000 per acre for paddy and commercial crops respectively.
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