Hyderabad, August 20 (Reporter):
BRS Working President K. Taraka Rama Rao (KTR) has strongly criticized the Congress-led Telangana government over the severe urea shortage across the state, calling it a result of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s inexperience and lack of planning.

KTR declared that the BRS will extend its support in the upcoming Vice President elections only to the party that ensures supply of two lakh metric tonnes of urea to Telangana farmers before September 9.

Speaking to the media at his residence in Nandinagar, Hyderabad, KTR alleged that Congress leaders are illegally diverting urea and selling it in the black market. He recalled that during former CM KCR’s ten-year rule, not a single day did farmers face fertilizer scarcity, as KCR used to monitor stock six months in advance.

KTR said:

• Farmers across Telangana are forced to stand in long queues for fertilizer.
• Women farmers are waiting outside shops overnight for urea bags.
• Farmers are even falling at the feet of officials to get fertilizer.
• The ongoing crisis has already pushed many farmers into distress; over 600 suicides have been reported.

He demanded that the Central Government conduct a thorough probe into the black marketing of fertilizers and take strict action against those responsible. He also called upon the state government to release a white paper on the urea shortage.

Lashing out at both Congress and BJP, KTR said that despite having 8 MPs each, neither party has brought any benefit to Telangana. “We had warned long ago that 8 + 8 = zero, and today it has come true,” he remarked.

He further questioned Rahul Gandhi’s silence in Parliament on Telangana’s farmers’ plight and asked why the Congress, which claims to care for BCs, did not nominate a BC leader for the Vice President post.

KTR warned that if the crisis is not resolved immediately, BRS will launch a mass agitation from village to state level to safeguard farmers’ interests.