Telangana Chief Minister Appeals to Farmers Amid Weak Monsoons

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has appealed to farmers to opt for rainfed crops in the present Kharif 2026 season and cut down on paddy cultivation, citing weak monsoons this year on account of the Super El Nino effect. On Tuesday, June 30, Revanth Reddy, along with Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka and Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, released Rs 2,482 crore into the bank accounts of 41.37 lakh farmers across the state under the first phase of the Rythu Bharosa funds release, at an event held at Shilpakala Vedika in Madhapur. Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said steps were being taken to ensure crop input financial assistance under Rythu Bharosa reached farmers in a timely manner, so that the funds were available to them at the start of the crop season. Countering claims made by Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) national president Nitin Nabin that the saffron party would come to power in Telangana after having defeated the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal, Revanth Reddy said what had worked in West Bengal would not work in Telangana. Pointing out that the BJP had come to power in West Bengal only after 15 years of repeated attempts, Revanth Reddy said it would take the party another 15 years to come to power in Telangana. He also took a swipe at Bharat Rashtra Samithi ( BRS ) leaders for predicting that former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao would return to power in the state. Questioning whether the BRS government had fully waived farmers’ crop loans during its 10 years in power, Revanth Reddy said that, in contrast, the Congress government had cleared loans worth Rs 2 lakh in a single instalment, spending Rs 22,600 crore in the process. Asserting that free power supply to farmers had been a Congress hallmark since 2004, when former chief minister Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy had first introduced the scheme, Revanth Reddy said the Congress government had spent Rs 36,000 crore in the current term to fund free power for agriculture. He added that Rs 1,000 was being provided for agricultural implements, while Rs 3,500 crore was being spent every year on the Rythu Bima insurance scheme. Reminding the gathering that the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) had become defunct during the BRS tenure, Revanth Reddy said that even without irrigation support from KLIS, the state had still recorded a record paddy production.