Hyderabad: Telangana BJP President G Kishan Reddy on Friday strongly opposed AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's Padayatra in Telangana and described it a political gimmick.Addressing a press conference here, Kishan Reddy claimed that as per the information sought under RTI, over 21,810 farmers in united Andhra Pradesh committed suicide during the Congress regime from 2004-2014.

The then Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had put the figure of suicides at 33,326, he claimed. “Before blaming the BJP government for the recent suicides, Rahul Gandhi should do a serious introspection. The NDA government did not complete even a year and it was wrong to blame it for the farmers' suicides,” he said, adding that why Rahul did not conduct a Padayatra against farmers' suicides during Congress regime.

The BJP leader also ridiculed Congress party's allegations that NDA government was trying to snatch away farmers’ land. He said hundreds of acres of lands in Nagole, Kukatpally, Shamshabad, Maheshwaram, Manikonda, Raidurg and surrounding areas were taken away from farmers’ and were allotted to private companies by the then Congress regime. The Telangana BJP chief said he had written an open letter to Rahul Gandhi on the issue and would also send a copy to all MPs in this regard.