Unfortunate, says Jagan as PM turns down meet

After targeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for his exit from the party, former MP from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Thursday trained his guns on the Prime Minister over farmers’ compensation.

Jagan was in the Capital for the first time after his resignation last month to represent the farmers hit by floods and cyclones in Andhra Pradesh.

With the Prime Minister “rejecting’ his request for an appointment Jagan took his demands to the agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.

“I am not here to do politics, but to highlight the grave situation of farmers in the state,” Jagan said, later seeking to know “why the PM turned down the appointment request”.

The 37-year-old MP termed the Prime Minister’s rejection unfortunate. “Had the Prime Minister chosen to hear us, we could have impressed upon him the plight of farmers, leading to some good for the lot. The opportunity was missed… unfortunate. He is the boss, we can only request.”

“Never before did lakhs of farmers protest like this. Their confidence levels have touched rock-bottom as is seen through 350 suicides reported from last three weeks,” he said in a memo made to submit to the PM.

Jagan wants the state to purchase flood-affected paddy at MSP with no quality conditions imposed, double the input subsidy from the present R1800 per acre, waive off loans, and immediate relief of R5000 per farmer.

While demanding ex-gratia of R5 lakh to the family of farmers who committed suicide, Reddy requested amendment of Agriculture Crop Insurance Act to cover crops from sowing to harvesting.