Hyderabad: Annoyed over Centre’s alleged indifference to Telangana farmers, state chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has hit out at PM Narendra Modi, saying that he informed the prime minister 20 times about farmers’ issues but did not get a response. The statement comes ahead of Telangana assembly elections scheduled next year.

Expressing his disappointment, Rao said, “I have informed Narendra Modi and other ministers at least 20 times about farmers’ problems. I have even written letters requesting the Centre to link MGNREGA with agriculture sector. But they only listen and don’t act.”

Calling BJP and Congress, two sides of the same coin, the chief minister added, “There is no difference between BJP and Congress. Both the political systems have miserably failed to understand the real problems of farmers and solve it. For last 70 years we have been hearing banal promises. It’s due to their negligence that the situation has not changed.”

KCR’s scathing attack on PM Modi and his ministers comes days after Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had made similar allegations. “I have visited Delhi 29 times and have also met everyone several times, still no one has paid heed to the state’s requirements,” Naidu said.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Telangana ranked second in farmer suicides in India. A state government report submitted to Rajya Sabha Committee on Government Assurances last year stated that as many as 1,990 farmers had committed suicide in Telangana in two years.

“The farmers are gradually losing faith and patience. This kind of situation may lead to revolt by farmers and this committee would lead the agitation,” a disgruntled KCR said while addressing farmers at Regional Farmers Coordination Committee meeting in Karimnagar district on Monday.

While ‘exposing’ failures of the central government on farmers’ issues, Rao also announced a first-of-its-kind initiative of life insurance for farmers, under which Rs 5 lakh will be provided in case of accidental death or ill health of a farmer. The initiative is expected to benefit nearly 70 lakh farmers in the state. The state government was recently criticized by the opposition for being "indifferent towards the plight of the farmers" after a farmer died at the Enumamula agricultural market.

The chief minister’s remark comes as a surprise after ‘Modi-KCR bonhomie’ was on display during PM’s maiden visit to the state in August last year when the prime minister inaugurated one of KCR’s pet projects, Mission Bhagiratha. Despite not being allies, Rao had recently gone soft on Modi and NDA government, from supporting Ram Nath Kovind’s nomination for presidential post to openly backing demonetisation and GST, and defending the proposal to hold simultaneous elections to states and Parliament.

However, Monday's statement, which hints at the strained relations between the two, can impact the upcoming assembly elections.

“It’s because of PM Modi and his initiatives that farmers’ lives have become easy. Be it crop loss compensation that has been increased by 50%, urea which is easily available to farmers or the MSP that has doubled the actual cost of production of crop. What has KCR done? He is just making allegations to mislead the people,” BJP leader Rakesh Reddy said.