Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y. S. Sharmila on Monday, 20 July issued an open letter to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, demanding that Members of Parliament from the ruling coalition — the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Jana Sena Party (JSP), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — urgently raise the crisis facing Andhra Pradesh's farming community on the floor of Parliament.

What Sharmila Demanded

Sharmila called on coalition MPs to directly confront the Centre over the distress gripping aqua, tobacco, mango, tomato, onion, and other farming communities across the state. She said MPs should, if necessary, stage a walkout to exert pressure on the Union government for farmers' welfare. She warned that if the government fails to respond immediately, the Congress Party will intensify a statewide agitation alongside farmers.

The Scale of the Agrarian Crisis

The APCC chief stated she was writing the letter in 'extreme anguish' after directly witnessing the plight of farmers across Andhra Pradesh. She alleged that guaranteed prices are absent and exploitation is rampant. Invoking a traditional saying — that a kingdom where farmers cry does not prosper — she said the support systems that once aided the farming community have collapsed under coalition rule.

Sharmila alleged that debt-ridden farmers are dying by suicide while the state's MPs remain focused on pleasing Prime Minister Narendra Modi rather than championing constituents' concerns. She described this as a 'disgrace.'

Key Sectoral Demands

Sharmila made several specific demands on behalf of distressed farming segments. For aqua farmers, she demanded that the problems of 30 lakh aqua farmers be debated in Parliament, that the Centre absorb the additional burden of ₹30,000 per tonne arising from rising shrimp feed prices, and that a ₹100 crore corpus fund be created for aqua farmers. She also pressed the ruling coalition to push the United States to reduce its 30 per cent tariff on aqua products to zero.

On tobacco farmers, she demanded a thorough parliamentary debate and a permanent resolution to their long-standing problems. She specifically called on the Centre to procure 230 million kilograms of tobacco currently held by farmers.

Political Context

The demands come amid a broader political battle in Andhra Pradesh, where the TDP-JSP-BJP coalition under Naidu has been in power following the 2024 assembly elections. The Congress, which governs at the national level through opposition politics, has been seeking to rebuild its footprint in the state under Sharmila's leadership. Her open letter is part of a sustained effort to position the party as the primary voice for agrarian distress in a state where farming communities span multiple high-value but volatile sectors.

This is not the first time coalition MPs have faced pressure over their silence on state-specific farmer issues in Parliament. Critics argue that the NDA's national alignment may constrain the TDP and JSP from aggressively confronting the Centre — a contradiction Sharmila appears to be deliberately highlighting.

What Happens Next

Sharmila has put the coalition on notice: if parliamentary action is not taken, the Congress will escalate street-level agitation across Andhra Pradesh in solidarity with farmers. Whether the TDP-led alliance responds — or whether this becomes a flashpoint for organised farmer protests — will depend on how the Centre addresses the specific sectoral demands raised in the letter.