TDP chief Naidu breaks eight-day long fast

HYDERABAD - Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President Chandrababu Naidu, who was on a huger strike for the last eight days demanding better compensation for flood-hit farmers broke his fast here on Friday evening.

According to reports, the leaders of the Third Front visited Naidu at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences here a short while back.

“We have realised it is going to be a very long struggle. Naidu has made his stand clear, ” said Communist Party of India leader A. B. Bardhan.

Naidu was forcibly shifted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on Thursday night after doctors reportedly shared concern that he could slip into coma or he could have a cardiac arrest.

Naidu has been insisting that his demands for providing relief to rain-hit farmers should be met by the government.

He had earlier rejected several appeals from the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and leaders of different political parties to call off his fast.

The TDP chief was on a fast since last Friday to demand more compensation for farmers who had lost their crop in recent rains.

Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh government enhanced the input subsidy from Rs. 4,500 to Rs. 6,000 per hectare to farmers who lost their crops in the recent rains in the state.

The government had also announced waiver of interest on farm loans disbursed this season, resulting in a relief of Rs. 350 crore to distressed farmers.

However, Naidu expressed displeasure over the “measly relief” and demanded that the government grant an input subsidy of Rs. 10,000 per acre since the loss was “colossal”. (ANI)