Highlights of YS Jagan’s media address 1/2

YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday addressed the media at his Lotus Pond office to complete the speech that was stopped by the Speaker in the Assembly.

He said he considered the media as the final judge as the Speaker tried to muzzle his voice. Here are the highlights of the YSRCP chief’s address to media:

•  The leaders should live righteously and teach righteousness to the people at large. Fudged figures and wrongful presentation of facts would demean the Telugu people and bring disrepute to our State.
• While I was trying to highlight the people’s problems, the speaker abruptly stopped me and began dictating what I should speak and what I should not. In a democratic system this should not be done. My speech was repeatedly disrupted.
•  The real problems arose due to the non-fulfilment of election promises of waiving of crop and Dwcra loans. He had also promised to provide jobs to the jobless and in the event of not being able to provide jobs, the government promised to give unemployment allowance. These promises were never fulfilled.
• The state government jacked up the accounts and fudged the figures to show the total expenditure as 1.12 lakh crores. The non-plan expenditure was shown 11000 crore less. This kind of figure-fudging would show the AP government in poor light at the national level.
• Rs 56000 crore was the target for agri loans for this year. But as on September 2014, only Rs 13840 crore worth of loans were given. For the remaining amount, the farmers were left with no option but to approach private money lenders, who collect exorbitant interests.
• The farmers cannot have crop insurance as they have defaulted on payment of loans believing in Chandrababu Naidu’s croploan waiver promise
• The farmers who believed Chandrababu Naidu’s assurance of crop loan waiver, are now forced to pay 14 per cent interest. The banks in their presentation have told Chandrababu Naidu that the outstanding loans were of the order of more than 99000 crore
• Today, the banks are auctioning the gold of farmers pledged in the banks. This is happening in all the districts including the home district of Chandrababu Naidu.
• But, despite all this, the AP government has allocated a mere Rs 172 crore for the crop and dwcra loan waiver. This only means that practically there would be no loan waiver this year too. But, Chandrababu Naidu is now imposing several conditionalities to deny loan waiver to the farmers.
•  Chandrababu is now saying that he was waiving of loans worth less than Rs 50000 crore. This again is a false information. YS Jagan recounts several case studies to highlight the woes of the farmers, who believed Chandrababu.
• “I called on all the families that lost their bread winners as the latter committed suicides in Anantapur.” Jagan recounts the examples of Kamanna, Vannurappa, Kesappa, Samrajyam, Govind Reddy of Garladinne, Siva Reddy, Pulla Reddy. All these farmers could earlier secure loans at 0 per cent and DWCRA loans at 25 paise interest. Today the families are paying 14 per cent interest believing in Chandrababu’s promise.
• As late as Friday, four farmers committed suicide due to mounting debt burden. This was published in Eenadu newspaper, which YS Jagan termed as the official gazette of Chandrababu.
• Yet, the government now categorically says that there would be no input subsidy to the farmers. This was stated by no less a person than the minister for agriculture in a written reply to the query posed by YSRCP MLA Vishweshwar Reddy.