Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao criticized the government’s loan waiver program on Friday, calling it a “million-dollar joke.” He challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to visit his constituency, Kodangal, and ask the farmers if the loan waiver was fully implemented. Rao even offered to quit politics if the waiver was fully applied.
During a press conference with other party leaders, Rao described the loan waiver as the “biggest cheating in India.” He accused Reddy of being deceptive in his actions and approach. According to Rao, the loan waiver is full of conditions and restrictions, and less than half of the eligible farmers actually received the benefit. He proposed visiting Kodangal with the media and without any Congress members. “If just one farmer confirms 100 percent implementation, I will quit politics,” Rao declared.
Rao also recalled that Reddy had promised a loan waiver on December 9, 2023, in a single installment. However, when the waiver was announced, the government estimated it would require Rs 40,000 crore, but in reality, it only spent Rs 17,000 crore. Rao criticized Reddy, saying, “It seems like CM stands for ‘cutting master,’ as only 60 percent of farmers received the loan waiver.”
Rao further noted that during the BRS regime, the first term loan waiver cost Rs 17,000 crore. He highlighted that the BRS government provided Rs 1 lakh crore for loan waiver and the ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme, whereas the current government failed to pay Rs 11,400 crore under the ‘Rythu Bharosa’ scheme. He even suggested that a cheating case should be filed against Revanth Reddy. Rao added that even Rahul Gandhi seemed to recognize the deception and chose not to attend the loan waiver program.
In response to the Women’s Commission’s notice regarding his earlier comments, KTR said he had apologized. He questioned whether Reddy would also apologize to senior leader P Sabita Indra Reddy.
When asked about following the DMK model, Rao mentioned that he plans to visit Tamil Nadu in September to study not only the DMK model but also those of TMC, BJP, TDP, and other parties.
