KCR described paddy procurement as a "life and death issue" for Telangana farmers (File)
Stepping up his attack against the NDA government, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday decided to go to Delhi on March 21, along with state ministers, to demand the Centre to purchase paddy produced in state in the summer season crop.
He convened a meeting of TRS MLAs, MLCs and other party leaders on March 21, an official release said.
Mr Rao said the meeting would chalk out a plan to hold dharnas and other protests demanding the Centre to buy 'yasangi' (summer crop) paddy in the state.
After the meeting, Mr Rao and a delegation of ministers would leave for Delhi "to meet Union Ministers and even the Prime Minister" to demand that the Centre buy the paddy.
The TRS members would stage protests in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in line with the agitation in Telangana, the release said.
Claiming that the Centre is procuring "100 per cent of paddy from Punjab", Mr Rao said "agitation programmes would continue demanding Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure 100 per cent of paddy from Telangana".
Mr Rao, known as KCR, described paddy procurement as a "life and death issue" for Telangana farmers and said the TRS is gearing up for an intensive struggle on it.
Mr Rao has been extremely critical of the BJP and the NDA government at the Centre in recent months over different issues.
The TRS and BJP in Telangana were engaged in a bitter war of words over paddy procurement in the state during the rainy season crop last year.
Mr Rao, along with his cabinet colleagues and other TRS leaders, held a dharna here in November last year, demanding that the Centre specify the annual target for paddy procurement in a year from Telangana.
BJP leader and Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy had said the Centre would purchase paddy from the state as per the agreement between the state government and Central agencies.