The Nizamabad farmers who have decided to contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi are not genuine farmers but political activists of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), alleged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State executive committee member and Nizamabad Lok Sabha candidate, Dharmapuri Arvind.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Arvind accused TRS candidate K. Kavitha of trying to gain cheap publicity by sending the party cadre to file nomination against the Prime Minister. He said none of these people had contested in Nizamabad in the Lok Sabha elections and asked how can they claim themselves to be farmers.
He said the 178 genuine farmers who contested against Ms. Kavita in Nizamabad had formed a group just to express their resentment against her failure to get the Turmeric Board to Nizamabad as promised by her in the 2014 elections. These farmers have achieved their goal by ensuring that the entire nation notices their novel protest.
Releasing the names of people who have now decided to contest against the PM, he said most of them are TRS party workers and not turmeric farmers. The names he released include: Tirupati Reddy (former sarpanch), Mittapalli Ganga Reddy (TRS farmers wing vice-president), Kottal Chinna Reddy (State seed certification director), Vemula Srinivas (TRS activist), Chinta Ganesh (non-agriculturist), Srinivas Goud (not a turmeric farmer). The remaining too are TRS leaders, he claimed.