Hitting out at the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh for its poor response to providing relief to rain-hit farmers,former Congress MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy today said the government would have to bid goodbye to power in the state,if it neglected farmers. "If this government feels that elections are three years away and that they need not take care of farmers,then it will go into a situation where it would not even get deposits. At least now,this government should open its eyes and rectify its mistakes. If it fails to become farmer-friendly,then I warn that the time has arrived for this government to go," he said. He was addressing a concluding public meeting on the banks of the Krishna river here where he held a hunger fast for 48 hours demanding adequate compensation for farmers who suffered massive crop losses due to frequent cyclones,heavy rains and floods in the state during the last one year. The relief package announced by the government failed to stop the suicides by the farmers in distress,he charged. "While 42 farmers ended their lives before the government announced the relief package,84 farmers died after the package was announced. Does this government still not feel ashamed of it?" he asked. Stating that farmers would not have suffered so much had his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy been alive,Jagan said the Congress government lacked the "sensitivity and spirit" of the late chief minister. Coming down heavily on Telugu Desam chief Chandrababu Naidu,who has been on an indefinite hunger strike in Hyderabad for the last six days,Jagan alleged the former chief minister did not do anything for farmers while in power. "Naidu described agriculture as a waste when he was in power. He ridiculed my father's promise of free power to farmers. Such a man is now sitting on an indefinite fast. Though he has been fasting for the last six days,his BP and sugar levels have not come down," he said. The Congress government and the main opposition TDP are only two sides of the same coin when it came to neglecting farmers,weavers and others,he charged. Claiming that TDP tried to hurt his 48-hour fast programme,he wondered why the main opposition party called for a shut down on the day he began his fast and called for a road blockade today when the fast concluded. The Congress government and TDP appeared to be in an understanding in leaving the farmers to their own fate,Jagan alleged. He said he would intensify his protests on agriculture and farmers' issues. Jagan broke his 48-hour-long fast later with a farmer offering him lemon juice.
