The political rivalry between Telangana’s ruling Congress and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) escalated on Tuesday as BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, alongside party supporters, gathered at Somajiguda Press Club in Hyderabad for a public debate on farmers’ issues, a challenge initially thrown by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. The absence of Congress representatives sparked sharp criticism from Rao, who accused Reddy of evading discussion and prioritizing “noise over substance.”

Rama Rao, addressing a sizable crowd of BRS leaders and workers, claimed Reddy had repeatedly challenged either him or BRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao to debate the Congress government’s farmer welfare measures against the BRS’s record. “The Chief Minister issued this challenge four or five times publicly, but when we showed up, no one from the government—neither Reddy, the Deputy Chief Minister, nor the Agriculture Minister—bothered to appear,” Rao said, alleging Congress was only interested in “rachcha” (creating noise) rather than “charcha” (meaningful debate).

Rao further accused the Congress government of stifling opposition voices in the Telangana Legislative Assembly, claiming BRS was denied adequate time to address farmers’ concerns. He alleged that 600 farmers have died by suicide in the 18 months since Congress assumed power, attributing this to unfulfilled promises like the Rs 50,000 crore farm loan waiver, reduced to just Rs 12,000 crore, and the failure to implement the Rythu Bharosa scheme.

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Highlighting the BRS’s tenure under K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Rao credited initiatives like Rythu Bandhu, which transferred over Rs 73,000 crore to farmers, and Mission Kakatiya for revitalizing agriculture. He demanded an apology from Reddy for “false allegations” against the BRS’s farmer welfare record. With police deployed to manage the crowd, the event underscored the deepening divide between the two parties as Telangana’s farmers remain at the heart of the political battle.

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