HYDERABAD, February 5: Mutyalapati Sivaiha, who swallowed a bottle of pesticide recently, could well be chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu's political nemesis.Though he survived the attempt, what is shocking and significant is that the debt ridden cotton farmer used none other than Naidu's election meeting at Markapur in Prakasam district to resort to the extreme step after handing over a memorandum to the chief minister on his plight.
While there was no reaction from the dumb struck Naidu, what Sivaiha has managed to achieve is to add fuel to the fire and ensure that the cotton pest remains the major issue for the ensuing elections, where Andhra Pradesh is concerned.
The spate of suicides by cotton farmers in the state, which has reached 60 now, had initially shown signs of being the one and the only issue for the ensuing elections where AP was concerned. However, opposition parties in the state after initial interest appeared to be losing interest in the subject though everyvisiting campaigner from Sonia Gandhi to A B Vajpayee and others have made it a point to refer to it.
While Vajpayee made a reference to it in his election speech in Hyderabad, Sonia evoked thunderous applause both at Nalgonda and Guntur when she touched on the subject.
But Naidu, convenient as it is, has been disposing it off with a passing reference. Instead, he has dwelled on subsidised power for the farm sector and his record on developmental projects in the state and resorted to BJP and Congress bashing.
Save for announcing a few sops and ex-gratia, the state administration too on its part does not appear to have addressed the problem with the necessary vigour and tact. Though the lack of enough extension workers is cited as one of the reasons for this, the fact remains that the chief minister has not been able to come forth with the right response or action to opposition criticism.
Since December 12, cotton farmers in various districts, particularly the five Telangana districts of Warangal,Karimnagar, Guntur, Khamam and Medak, have resorted to the extreme step after their crop was hit by the white bollworm pest.
Warangal district, which goes to polls in the second phase on February 22 and is yet to be visited by Naidu, alone accounts for the maximum loss of life and crop with 70 per cent of the crop reportedly destroyed by the pest.
The BJP sought to make an issue of the tragedy early last month and even dashed a fact-finding team to the Telangana region but loosened the grip on the issue. After Sivaiah's attempted suicide the party has now renewed its campaign on the issue even though the Congress has been silent so far save for a passing reference by Sonia Gandhi in her speech in the state.
While every leader from Delhi has assured that if voted to power a comprehensive crop insurance programme would be the top priority of the new government, there is already talk of a new crop insurance scheme with both the Centre and state governments footing 25 per cent each of the premium and thefarmers giving in 50 per cent.
Though it remains to be seen whether the scheme could be finalised in a hurry notwithstanding the election commission's green signal, various parties are making political hay thanks to the unabated suicides by farmers in the state.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
