A day ahead of the meeting of the team of Ministers from Telangana, Union Minister Piyush Goel has categorically said that the Central Government would not procure all the rice that is produced in a state. He said the procurement would depend on the support price, demand and supply of the grains.
In a written reply given to an MP from Assam, he said the Central government will not purchase all the paddy produced in any state. He said procurement does not only depend on the production alone. It would depend on other market related factors too. He categorically said that the Centre would not purchase every grain produced in Telangana. It would make a need-based procurement only.
The clarification came a day ahead of the Telangana ministers scheduled meeting with Piyush Goel. Telangana ministers Niranjan Redy, Gangula Kamalakar, Prashant Reddy and Puvvada Ajay are scheduled to meet Piyush Goel on Thursday. They are set to demand a one-nation, one procurement policy for paddy procurement. The TRS is demanding that the Centre purchase every grain produced in the state.
Interestingly, a team of BJP MPs from Telangana too have met Piyush Goel on Tuesday and apprised him of the disinformation by the TRS on the issue of paddy procurement. They told Goel that the TRS was trying to make this an electoral issue. They charged that the TRS was playing petty politics on the issue.
