In a statement issued on Saturday, Niranjan Reddy criticized the "Rythu Panduga" event held in Mahabubnagar district, claiming it seemed more like an attempt to intimidate farmers than a celebration. "The meeting appeared to be aimed at threatening the farmers of the State for not surrendering their lands in Kodangal, under the guise of a farmers' festival. The Chief Minister's tone suggested he might forcibly take the farmers' lands," he alleged.

Hyderabad: Former Minister and senior BRS leader S Niranjan Reddy alleged that the way Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy spoke about land acquisition for pharma village during the “Rythu Panduga”, it appears as if the event was organised to threaten the farmers.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, Niranjan Reddy said the intention behind organising “Rythu Panduga” in Mahabubnagar district appears to be more like threatening the farmers than celebrations. “It seems that this meeting was held to threaten the farmers of the State for not giving lands in Kodangal in the name of farmers’ festival. CM’s tone appeared as if he would snatch the lands of the farmers forcefully,”he alleged.

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He accused the Congress government of misusing hundreds of crores in the name of Rythu Pandaga. “RTC buses were diverted and people were deprived of transport facilities. Devotees going to Srisailam during Karthika month suffered a lot due to shortage of buses,”he alleged.

Accusing Revanth Reddy of ignoring Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS), the former Minister said though Revanth claims that he belongs to Mahabubnagar district, he did nothing to complete the project. If he was sincere about completing the project, Revanth would have completed it and provided water to the people of Mahabubnagar district, he said, adding that in the last one year, the Congress government had not taken up a single work related to the PRLIS project.
Stating that if Revanth Reddy was sincere, he would had completed 10 percent of the pending works of Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation works on a war footing and provided water to people, he said adding that Revanth admitted in the assembly that if the PRLIS works were completed an additional 10 lakh acres in the district would receive irrigation water.

“Congress is responsible for the backwardness of the Mahabubnagar district. During the party rule, the people of the district suffered a lot and people migrated to other places for livelihood. It was during the BRS rule that the district developed and migration stopped,”he said.