BRS working president KTR on Sunday demanded that the Congress government immediately pay Rs 60,000 per acre to drought-stricken farmers in Telangana, combining three pending Rythu Bandhu installments with one more installment meant for the Yasangi crop. He made the demand at a Rythu Garjana rally held at the Diet grounds in Adilabad district.

The figure covers four crops in total. KTR said the government had held back three earlier installments of Rythu Bandhu, and he wants them paid along with the Yasangi season installment in one lump sum. If the government has any real commitment or concern for farmers, he said, the amount should be credited to farmers’ bank accounts right away.

KTR tied the current hardship directly to the state’s irrigation record. He accused the government of failing to use Kaleshwaram water and of leaving irrigation projects unfinished, and said those failures are the reason farmers are struggling. He rejected the idea that the drought was natural. In his words, the drought in Telangana today was not brought by nature but by the Congress government.

He also used the rally to attack the party directly. Playing on the names of the BRS leader’s own family, he said the K in KCR stands for canals, the C for cheruvulu, meaning ponds or tanks, and the R for reservoirs. Congress, he said, stands for drought, migration and tears. The Congress government, he added, has no answer to these problems.

Tenant farmers left out, KTR says

KTR also demanded that tenant farmers receive Rythu Bandhu on the same terms as landowning farmers. He pointed to a pre-election promise. According to him, Revanth Reddy had told the state’s 21 lakh tenant farmers that they would get Rythu Bandhu if they voted for him, and they did. KTR asked what had happened to that promise.

He explained who tenant farmers are for the audience. They are people who have no land or very little land, and who take other people’s land on lease to cultivate it. KTR said that group must be treated equally in any relief package, and he demanded that the government pay them on the same basis as other farmers across the state.

The line that drew the loudest response came as he turned to the rally crowd. He said the government had made the farm labourers wait long enough.

"36 months have passed. For those 36 months, in front of all of you and your applause, I demand the Congress government deposit Rs 36,000 into the accounts of our farm labourers immediately."

Landless labourers and the Rs 36,000 claim

The third demand was aimed at landless poor farm labourers. KTR reminded the crowd that the Congress government had promised Indiramma Atmiya Bharosa to landless families. The promised payment was Rs 1,000 a month. He said that 36 months have passed and that not a single rupee has been paid.

Working from that monthly figure, KTR said each farm labourer is owed Rs 36,000 over the 36 months. He demanded that the full arrears be deposited into the accounts of those workers without further delay.

For Telangana’s farm workers, the numbers are simple. A landless labourer is owed Rs 36,000 by that calculation. A farmer with one acre is owed Rs 60,000 under KTR’s formula. Both figures depend on the state government acting, and the report does not include any response from the government to these demands.

Why the demand matters beyond the rally stage

The demand puts a specific, large number on the table for farmers who have already been waiting. It also sets up a direct confrontation over who is responsible for drought relief and who has failed to deliver it. KTR made clear that his party will keep pushing the issue, saying the BRS will continue its fight on farmers’ problems.

The rally in Adilabad is a reminder that the dispute is not only about one scheme. It covers several overlapping programmes, including Rythu Bandhu for landowners, Rythu Bandhu for tenant farmers, and Indiramma Atmiya Bharosa for landless labourers. Each is now being argued over in the same breath, and each affects a different group of people in rural Telangana.

KTR’s speech made the stakes personal. He spoke about the 36 months of waiting, the three missed installments and the promise made to 21 lakh tenant farmers. Whether the government responds with payments or a counter-argument will decide how this confrontation plays out in the coming weeks.

For now, the demands are on record. Rs 60,000 per acre for farmers, Rs 36,000 for each landless labourer, and immediate deposit into bank accounts. The state has not yet answered.