HYDERABAD: For the first time, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has come down heavily on TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao and TJAC chairman M Kodandaram, holding them responsible for the plight of farmers in Telangana region on account of lack of adequate power supply to the farm sector due to strike by coal miners.Not to be outdone, Kodandaram, who is in Delhi along with KCR, gave it back to the chief minister in equal measure, claiming that what Kiran Kumar was saying was a tissue of lies and that the power supply position was not as precarious as he was trying to make out.The TJAC chief said he was prepared for a public debate on demand and supply of power in the state.Addressing a group of farmers from Adilabad district at his camp office on Monday, the chief minister said: “If crops in 70 lakh acres in the state were affected it is because of the strike in Singareni Collieries Company Limited. In Telangana districts, 70 per cent of cultivable land is under borewells. How could one defend Kodandaram visiting Godavarikhani in Karimnagar district a couple of days ago and asking the miners to continue the strike. Both KCR and Kodandaram have caused colossal loss to farmers of the region that they represent, that too when the crop is nearing the harvesting stage. In just two months, the crop would have been ready for harvesting. Had they gone on strike after two months, I would not have bothered much.”The chief minister called upon farmers to resist the attempts of those who are trying to starve crops of water by making appeals to the coal miners to continue their strike.He said because of shortage of coal, the power utilities were unable to supply power even for six hours a day. There is a shortfall of 45 million units as against the demand for 270 million units a day as of now. All this is because there is no production of coal and as a result there are no fresh arrival of stocks at the thermal power stations, he said.He wanted to know how Kodandaram could give a call to the coal miners to continue the strike when the power supply position has become very precarious in the state.“You have become the cause of farmers’ agony. Don’t deliberately harm your own interests with calls to continue the strike,” the chief minister said. He made a fervent appeal to the employees and workers of the RTC and SCCL to call off their strike in the interests of farmers and general public."The chief minister said he was not against Telangana and that the Centre is trying to sort out the issue. The Congress is firming up its opinion and is getting ready to hold talks with other political parties having two opinions on the issue in the state. You have to wait till such a time the Centre comes out with a solution," he said.Kodandaram reacted sharply to Kiran Kumar Reddy’s allegation that he and KCR were responsible for the plight of farmers. Speaking to reporters, he said: “He was prepared for a public debate with the chief minister on the power position in the state. The TJAC chief said: “We are demanding that the chief minister come out with details of how much power was required this time and how much the utilities had supplied last year. If there was a gap between demand and supply of power, the state should spell out what alternative measures were taken to overcome it.”He said Kiran Kumar was trying to paint a picture that the power situation was grim, but in reality it wasn’t that precarious.
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