BJP to intensify agitation on farmers' issues: Venkaiah

Former Bharatiya Janata Party president M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday cautioned the state government to brace itself from the agitational onslaught that it would be facing from his party over the plight of rain-hit farmers’ in the state.

Talking to media persons after inspecting the tobacco fields in the rain-affected villages in Prakasam district, Mr Naidu advised Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and other Ministers to visit affected farms and fields in the villages and interact with farmers directly to know about the extent of their problems.

The concerned Minister and officials should leave the cosy confines of the state capital and visit farms and fields hit by heavy rains to know the ground realities, he stated.

The senior BJP leader revealed that his party would decide its future course of action on how to pressurise the government to take up the rehabilitation of the farmers and also discuss the strategy to be adopted at the convention to be held on Friday in Vijayawada.

Mr Naidu said that he would raise the tobacco growers’ problems in Tobacco Board meeting to be held in New Delhi on December 21.

The veteran politician demanded that the government extend all kind of help to the distressed farmers and reschedule loans and waive interest on farm loans. He also appealed to government to sanction fresh loans, seeds and fertilizers to take up Rabi sowing operations.  

District party leaders and Tobacco Board officials accompanied Mr Naidu to his visit to the tobacco fields.