The Finance Minister of Telangana, T Harish Rao, strongly criticized the leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), N Chandrababu Naidu, for his recent claim that it was the TDP government which had introduced rice cultivation in Telangana. According to Minister Harish Rao, Telangana has become the rice bowl of South India, thanks to the numerous irrigation projects completed under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. Harish Rao added that farmers in Telangana had cultivated paddy on a vast area of 54 lakh acres during the current Yasangi season, while in contrast, only 16 lakh acres of paddy had been cultivated in neighboring Andhra Pradesh. Furthermore, Harish Rao strongly rebuked Chandrababu's statement that Telangana people had only consumed ragi, jowar, and millets until Chandrababu's tenure as Chief Minister. The Finance Minister asserted that Chandrababu's claim was baseless and far from the truth.
