YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president Jagan Mohan Reddy sharply criticized the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Andhra Pradesh for abandoning farmers and fostering black-market exploitation.

Speaking to onion and citrus farmers in Duggannagaripalli village, Vemula mandal, Kadapa district, Reddy highlighted their struggles with plummeting prices and a lack of minimum support prices, which he claimed were driving farmers into “unbearable debts and despair.”

Reddy alleged that the NDA government, under Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, has ignored farmers’ plight, contrasting it with the support provided during the YSRCP’s tenure from 2019 to 2024. He pointed to a severe urea shortage forcing farmers to buy at inflated black-market rates, questioning why supplies were not distributed transparently through Rythu Bharosa Kendras and Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies.

Reddy further accused retail outlets linked to Naidu of exploiting farmers by procuring onions at Rs 6 per kg while selling them at Rs 35 per kg, noting that onion prices have crashed from Rs 12,000 per quintal under YSRCP to as low as Rs 300 for lower grades now.

The opposition leader also slammed the TDP-led government for discontinuing the ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ scheme, scrapping free crop insurance, and diverting fertilizers to the black market, prioritizing “commissions over cultivators’ survival.” Reddy demanded immediate state intervention to support farmers growing onions, bananas, black gram, and sunn hemp, who face a “price collapse.”

The TDP has yet to respond to these allegations, which underscore escalating tensions over agricultural policy in Andhra Pradesh.

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