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“The government’s policy of not allowing the farmers of the State to sell their produce in the neighbouring States has to be amended for their benefits. We would continue to agitate to rescue the farmers”

Raichur: The 'Rythu Satyagraha Padayatra' undertaken by Lok Satta Party President Jayaprakash Narayan on Saturday concluded in a tense atmosphere on Sunday. He kept his word of entering Karnataka with rice and selling it in that State, despite threats by police of arresting him if he ventured to do so, which was against the rules.

Narayan sold five quintals of paddy in an auction at Gilakasuguru in Raichur district in Karnataka. Karnataka people welcomed the Lok Satta leader and enthusiastically took part in the auction. Finally, a woman Ramalakshmi bagged the rice for Rs 1 lakh.

A victorious Lok Satta leader observed that no amount of threats or deterrence would have forced him to call off his yatra. He gave a call to the farmers of the state to take a cue from his successful yatra and sell their produce in Karnataka where the government was offering Rs 100 bonus per a bag of paddy sold by the farmers in that State. He lambasted the Kiran Kumar Reddy government for not allowing paddy exports from the state to other states.

“When the Central Government allows rice exports from Pakistan to India, the State Government is preventing the farmers from going to neighbouring State to sell the produce.

The Government should forthwith put an end to its anti-farmers policies and go to their rescue,” he said.

The Lok Satta leader announced that he would conduct more such campaigns for the sake of farmers to sell their produce in other neighbouring states, too. He said it was the right of the farmers to take their produce to the markets where prices were ruling high.

Earlier, commencing his padayatra in Mantralayam on the second day, he visited the temples of village deity Manchalamma and Sri Raghavendra Swamy. Later, he addressed a meeting of farmers.

He said that the export of rice to other State was part of his campaign to secure remunerative prices for the farmers and dared the government to arrest him for violation of the rules. He went in a procession to Chetnapalli where he was accorded a grand reception by the villagers including a large number of women.

He led a large group of farmers and supporters, who arrived from across the state, to Karnataka to prove that the farmers had every right to sell their produce wherever they wanted to get good price for their produce. He embarked on the padayatra from Emmiganoor in Kurnool district on Saturday and tried to rally the farmers to cross the boundaries of the State if need be.

Narayan reminded the farmers that though the Central Government had enacted the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, giving the farmers the right to sell their produce in neighbouring States, the Andhra Pradesh Government was preventing them from doing so. He also made it clear to the farmers that unless they came together to exert pressure on the government, the latter would not yield.

As the padayatra reached Madhavaram, a tense atmosphere descended on the procession with reports of the police preparing to arrest him. However, the Lok Satta leader was egged on by his supporters and farmers to carry on the yatra and dared the police to stop. Sensing trouble if they were to make any arrests, the police who were accompanying the procession relented and let them proceed on the way to Karnataka state.

Accompanied by a large number of people, Narayan cross the Tungabhadra river and entered the Karnataka State, much to the joy of the supporters.

Courtesy: The Hans India