New Delhi: The Congress manifesto for the Telangana Assembly elections in 2023, that will be prepared after extensive consultations with all stakeholders, will have a special focus on farming issues, top party leader Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday.
Gandhi, who resumed his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in Telangana after a four-day Diwali break, had an interaction with the farmers and farmers' representatives from different parts of the southern state.
“There is no magic bullet to solve the problems of the farmers. There has to be a strategy for agriculture in the state and it must have multiple elements. I believe there has to be a basic minimum support for the poor of the country. It is a powerful idea. And that was the thinking behind MGNREGA and NYAY schemes,” Gandhi said.
Responding to the plight of the farmers present during the interaction, Gandhi said, “Money meant for farmers should not be paid to land-owners who are not involved in agriculture.” He also said that that farmer widows must get the land after farmer suicides and tenant farmers should get the lease documents.
Earlier during the interaction, farmer widow Manjula, from Vikarabad district, spoke about the hardships she has been facing since the death of her husband in 2021. “I have a pending private loan of Rs 7 lakh, which I have inherited from my husband. I have no options to repay the loan, and I cannot even afford education of my children.”
Speaking to the media later, AICC General Secretary, incharge of communications, Jairam Ramesh said, “Tenant farmers must get any scheme for crop insurance or direct income support.”
"@RahulGandhi also promised that the Congress manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana will have a very sharp focus on farming issues and will be prepared after the widest possible consultations with all stakeholders,” he later tweeted.
Meanwhile, Gandhi also met former Indian Cricket Captain and Telangana PCC Working President Mohammed Azharuddin during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.