TDP MPs protest

NEW DELHI, DEC. 7. The Telugu Desam Party MPs today staged a protest in Parliament House to demand a package for Andhra Pradesh similar to that to the farmers in Punjab and Haryana and purchase of at least 10 lakh tonnes of paddy by FCI from the State.

The TDP, a key ally of the NDA Government, attempted to raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha during its short proceedings. The Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Mr. Shanta Kumar, and the Rural Development Minister, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, came to meet the protesting MPs and heard their grievances. Mr. Yerran Naidu and Mr. C. Ramachandraiah led the demonstration that was carried out near the Mahatma Gandhi statue.

The MPs said that the NDA Government's ``wrong polices'' had deprived Andhra Pradesh of its traditional markets in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The FCI was supplying rice from Punjab and Haryana to these markets, thus adding to the woes of Andhra Pradesh farmers.

- UNI

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Section  : National
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