The BJP, which challenged the ruling TRS for the next assembly elections, is now rallying in support of the tribals.
Alleging chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of failing to resolve the Podu lands issue, Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay sat on a silent protest in his Lok Sabha constituency Karimnagar on Monday.
“Chief minister Rao made a tall promise that he would sit amidst the tribal people and resolve their podu lands issue. He assured that all those who have been cultivating podu lands would be given title deeds. Forget about resolving the issue, his government has been harassing the tribals agitating for the land rights,” Bandi said, adding that the problem became more complicated with the introduction of Dharani, an online portal Rao government had brought in for online land property registrations.
Bandi's protest comes in the wake of the skirmishes between the forest officials and locals cultivating the lands in a few areas of Telangana.
The BJP president arranged a big chair at the protest site with a label stating that it was reserved for chief minister Rao.
“Since it appears you could not find a chair to sit amidst the tribal farmers to resolve their issue, here is a Maharaja chair we have arranged. You can sit here and solve the long-pending issue of land rights of tribals and Adivasis,” Sanjay said after his two-hour-long silent protest on his birthday.
Bandi alleged that the chief minister failed to fulfil even a single promise in the last eight years. “It is a blatant lie that the Dharani portal was introduced to root out corruption. Dharani has created law and order issues in otherwise peaceful villages. It has only helped land grabbers and those who sold away their lands 40-50 years ago,” the BJP leader alleged.
The removal of “encroachment” columns in the portal and the change of village names and land owners have resulted in utter chaos in the rural side. “Lakhs of applications are flooding the revenue offices to remove the errors in Dharani portal.”
Bandi said that during his Praja Sangrama Yatra, thousands of farmers brought their problems arising out of Dharani portal to his notice. “Records pertaining to 15 lakh acres of land were not registered in Dharani portal and those registered were also full of mistakes. Even though KCR is adamant on continuing Dharani because his family members encroached upon land worth thousands of crores,” he said.