Hyderabad: PCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday said Congress cadres across the state would launch mass agitations demanding that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao withdraw GO 39 which enables the constitution of farmers coordination committees.

Speaking to the media here, Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao intended to accommodate TRS workers in committees “through the back door” so as to enable them misuse public funds for political gains in the elections.

He said that the proposed payment of `8,000 per acre per year as input subsidy to farmers was an election gimmick. He said that the Congress was not agai-nst giving input subsidy to farmers. It should be distributed through district administration and not through committees “packed with TRS workers”, he said.

He said GO 39 stated that the exercise was being carried out on the directions of the Chief Minister, and that the list of members was to be finalised by ministers. “This was not discussed either in the Cabinet or in Assembly. The GO lacks sanctity. As per the GO, the proposed committees are being granted financial and judicial powers to settle land disputes among farmers in villages. This is unconstitutional and should not be allowed,” he said

Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said Mr Rao was trying to nullify the revenue and land administration system and impose extra-constitutional committees of TRS workers to pressurise the farmers to support the party.

He said the record of the TRS government on agriculture was not encouraging. Of its 12 initiatives, as mentioned in the GO MS 39, three had failed while the others remained non-starters, he said.