Jagan slams Andhra govt for 'detaining farmers' during his Chittoor visit

Amaravati, Jul 10 (PTI) YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday slammed the Andhra Pradesh government for allegedly detaining and harassing farmers during his visit to Banagarupalem mango market yard in Chittoor district.

Reddy alleged that the propaganda by the TDP-led NDA coalition government led by N Chandrababu Naidu misrepresented the farmers' plight.

"Naidu's government is resorting to a repressive approach by detaining, beating, and harassing farmers during my recent Bangarupalem visit," said Reddy in a post on 'X'.

The former chief minister met with the mango farmers and heard their grievances on Wednesday.

Farmers who are unable to secure even the minimum price for two months, were forced to dump their crop roadside--an increasingly common and distressing sight, he alleged.

The pain of 76,000 mango farmers cultivating in 2.2 lakh acres and producing 6.5 lakh tonne is allegedly being ignored, Reddy said.

The YSRCP supremo questioned labelling protesting youth, students, women, and farmers as "anti-social elements", adding that widespread dissent is a reaction to the alleged policy failure.

He sought to know why the appropriate price was not given to the farmers by the government and mango pulp factories.

Reddy claimed that farmers never faced such hardship during the previous YSRCP government and mango was sold at Rs 25 to 29 per kg.

The former CM further alleged that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) was not provided for crops like paddy, chilli, cotton, maize, tobacco, ragi, banana, and mango this year, unlike under the YSRCP rule.

Reddy said during his tenure the government spent Rs 7,800 crore on the procurement of crops and alleged that now Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs), insurance and subsidies to farmers were defunct. PTI MS GDK KH