With its BC leader Boora Narsaiah Goud set to join BJP, TRS is making efforts to reach out to every section of the voters in Munugode.
KTR held a roadshow in Munugode ahead of TRS candidaye K Prabhakar Reddy filing his nomination for the 3 November by-election. (Supplied)
Listing out the harsh measures taken by the BJP-led central government against handloom weavers, Telangana Handlooms and Textiles Minister and TRS Working President KT Rama Rao on Monday, 17 October, appealed to the weavers’ community to teach the saffron party a lesson in the upcoming Munugode by-election.
The move came a day after prominent Backward Class (BC) leader Boora Narsaiah Goud — having left the TRS on 14 October — confirmed that he was joining the BJP.
There are a substantial number of BCs in Munugode, and community members, including Goud, had lobbied TRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to ensure the Munugode candifate was from among the BCs.
In the event, TRS fielded K Prabhakara Reddy, making the Munugode bypoll a three-way Reddy fight.
The BJP candidate is Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, whose resignation from the Congress and and the Assembly necessitated the by-election. He joined the saffron party soon after.
The Congress candidate is Palvai Sravanthi, daughter of former Rajya Sabha member late Palvai Govardhan Reddy.
KTR told the weavers that Narendra Modi was the first prime minister since India’s independence to burden weavers with heavy taxes, and that he had scrapped insurance and welfare schemes meant for them.
During a teleconference with the weavers of Munugode, he said that the BJP had dissolved the All India Handlooms Board, All India Handicrafts Board, and savings schemes and insurance schemes for weavers.
Also, the yarn subsidy to weavers had been reduced from 40 percent to 15 percent, he said.
He pointed out that the GST on handlooms and textiles was up from 5 to 12 percent. Though Modi rode to power on the crest of swadeshi sentiment, he is pushing the handlooms sector into a crisis, KTR said.
The textiles minister said that though the Telangana government had sought assistance from the central government in implementing welfare measures for weavers, there was absolutely no help. The Centre did not lend support to set up the Institute of Handloom Technology, and block-level handloom clusters.
KTR also gave an account of the progressive steps taken by the TRS government for the welfare of the weavers’ community.
He said that the state government has been allocating a budget of ₹1,200 crore per annum for the welfare of the handloom sector, was providing a 40 percent subsidy on yarn and dyes through Chenetha Mithra, had introduced a ₹5 lakh insurance cover for handloom and power loom workers through the Nethanna Ku Bhima, implementing Nethannaku Cheyutha scheme, among others.
KTR also recalled the TRS government waiving weavers’ loans ranging up to ₹1 lakh. This has benefited about 10,500 people.
He said that an integrated training, production and sales centre in Narayanpet, and a handlooms park in Gadwal are being set up.
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024
May 17, 2024
