Centre's attitude toward agri sector dangerous: Niranjan

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Friday accused the Centre of failing to treat the States as "duly elected under the Constitution and expects them to act at its mercy".

Addressing the media in Delhi, along with his Cabinet colleagues, wHyderabad, Hyderabad News, Hyderabad Latest News, Hyderabad Today News, Telangana News, Telanganaho are camping there for the past couple of days, he cautioned that such treatment of the States won't do good for the country. He said those who insulted the aspirations of the States on earlier occasions had paid a heavy price. The responsibility of preventing such reoccurrences rests with the Centre, he added.

Taking a dig at the Centre, he said that it had created aspirations for the States to go high promising cooperative federalism. But it did not follow the Niti Ayog recommendations, giving priority to the States of their liking and where the party is in power. He alleged that the Centre was discriminating against States on all counts. He noted how it had treated them differently when floods hit Hyderabad and Gujarat. The Centre promised to double income of farmers. It claims to spend about Rs 90,000 crore on importing cooking oils. But it fails to guide farmers on cultivating crops to produce cooking oils."

The minister lashed out at the Centre for taking the agriculture sector backwards. He alleged its treatment of agriculture not only harmful but, also dangerous. "It is pushing hardworking farmers into anguish. Reddy said the Centre "is belittling when representatives from a State have come waiting for its reply". "We will continue to procure paddy and wait for the Centre's letter for procurement of additional paddy stocks beyond what was allocated earlier,"