Raipur: Congress is alleging that the central government has become anti-farmers; however, the state government is not in favor of the farmers, said BJP national secretary and state in-charge of Chhattisgarh Daggubati Purandeswari.

Addressing the second meeting of the saffron party after holding the charge as the state in charge, Purandareswari said adding the state government failed to fulfill the 28 lakh metric tonnes of paddy purchase quota given by the center. In addition, an amount of Rs 9,000 crore was also sanctioned by the center which the state government failed to pay it to farmers. 

Speaking about the party’s upcoming strategies, she said that “we will focus on current issues. Currently, a strategy will be prepared focusing on the farmers and paddy procurement issue. The state is responsible for the supply of gunny sacks—which has become a huge issue now in paddy procurement—as they have all the information regarding the quantity of paddy purchase and the amount of gunny sacks required for the same.”

“Still the government is unable to meet the demands for the same. On one hand, the central government is working in the interest of farmers. However, the farmers of the state know that the state government is not in the interest of farmers”, she added.

Firstly we are seeking accounts from the state government on what has been done with the Rs 9000 crore given by the center for paddy procurement. The state government is not doing justice to the farmers. It talks about purchasing 15 quintals of paddy on 1 acre, while we demand that 25 quintals of paddy should be purchased. That is why farmers are protesting against the state government. There is a need to understand why farmers are performing and we are with the farmers, and the Congress is against the farmers, she said.

Purandareswari said that BJP is not a party sitting in AC or having a five-star working party. The party leader, officer, and in-charge should go to the grass-root level and get involved in strengthening the organization. The work of organization expansion and formation of all the in-charges is almost complete. In Chhattisgarh, an action plan is being prepared to empower the BJP; an attempt is being made to strengthen the party from the root, she said.

Leader of Opposition in the Chhattisgarh legislative assembly, Dharamlal Kaushik said that under the guidelines issued last time, the district president and the rest of the appointees, who have got the charge, had their first meeting. It has been directed in the meeting that our work is not just going and interacting with people, but to emphasize how to increase the activity of the organization to the ground level. Guidance has been given on how to activate the workers from Mandal to the booth. This will increase the activeness of the organization.

Kaushik said actually, the Congress failed to meet the target which was given by the central government last year. FCI had given time for depositing rice in the month of September, but the state government asked for time till December and could not deposit rice till now.