In Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, YS Sharmila Reddy, the president of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), rallied hundreds of supporters on Friday to demand minimum support prices (MSP) for farmers’ crops. To show real solidarity with struggling farmers, she hopped on a tractor for the march, highlighting their daily hardships.
Congress workers and fans joined the massive protest, chanting slogans for farmers’ rights as they marched through the city streets. The event quickly grabbed attention, halting traffic on key roads and shining a spotlight on how farmers still wait for fair MSP guarantees.
Before police stepped in, Sharmila fired strong words at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. She accused him of staying silent on the urea shortage plaguing farmers and failing to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi about it. “Agriculture gets no support these days—subsidies are gone, leaving farmers unprotected,” she said. “Our state ranks third in farmer suicides. They warn urea causes cancer, but what about the liquor your government sells? Where did those lakhs of tonnes of urea for Andhra Pradesh vanish to? Chandrababu doesn’t even dare ask Modi.”
Tensions rose as police blocked the protesters on a main road. Sharmila and her team refused to back down, staging a sit-in and urging the crowd to fight for farmers hit by market ups and downs and middlemen tricks. She slammed the government for ignoring these hardworking “annadatas” (food providers) and not giving them a just price for their labor.
After over two hours of the standoff, police arrested Sharmila and broke up the gathering. Still, she made it clear: “The Congress stands with our farmers. Without MSP, they’re exposed to exploitation. This protest is a wake-up call— we’ll keep pushing until they get justice.”
The APCC plans to ramp up similar agitations across Andhra Pradesh in the weeks ahead, making sure farmers’ voices ring loud on issues like MSP, urea shortages, and rising farmer suicides.
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