TS BJP took credit for Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s announcement on paddy procurement from April 13. In a late night press conference at the party office on Tuesday, State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar said that this was the result of the pressure put on the government through protest programmes by his party.

“This is victory for the farmers of Telangana and our cadre. I thank them for their fortitude and faith in us as we vowed to fight till the government rescinds,” he said. “This is what we have been urging the government to do from the beginning but the TRS bigwigs had been playing politics on paddy procurement. Why was this decision not taken earlier?” he questioned.

The Karimnagar MP said that KCR was forced to climb down from his earlier stance of warning farmers of dire consequences if paddy is grown, and closing procurement centres, among others. “The Centre had allocated ₹97,000 crore so far for TS and farmers are aware of the reality. We now demand the TRS Government to compensate farmers forced to sell at a price lower than the minimum support price,” he said.