AP Ministers’ counter: Telangana roads worse

VIJAYAWADA:  Hinting that Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao was under pressure due to the growing footprint of the BJP and hence his ‘distasteful’ remarks, AP Ministers Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Botcha Satyanarayana, and Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Friday countered by saying that the power situation or the condition of roads in Telangana was no better.

“TRS is under pressure in Telangana, which could be the reason for KTR’s attempt to tarnish us to gain political mileage,” a close aide to the Chief Minister said. 

Roja invites TS leaders to visit AP and see the roads for themselves

BJP leaders in Telangana wondered if Rama Rao had trained his guns at AP only to drive home the point that he, unlike Jagan, was out and out anti-BJP and therefore he was a friend and well-wisher to Andhra residents in Hyderabad and other parts of the State.

Interestingly, even as Rama Rao was making these remarks, AP Tourism Minister RK Roja was enjoying the hospitality of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his family at Pragathi Bhavan. She had come to meet KCR after being inducted into Jagan’s Cabinet, naming the latter as her well-wisher.

On stepping out, Roja, who was asked by media persons to share her reaction, tempered her comments but drove home the point that the situation in regard to infrastructure and power supply in AP was much better than earlier. “KTR only said neighbouring state and did not say AP. But if he did indeed refer to AP, I welcome him to visit AP along with his friends.

As the Tourism Minister, I will personally showcase the development in AP. The roads including National Highways are much better now,” Roja said. Earlier, expanding on his argument that Hyderabad had world-class infrastructure Rama Rao also said that recently a BJP MP from north India had visited the city. “He stayed in a hotel and went to participate in a programme to another place in the city.

The MP later said that he reached his destination within seven minutes, as there were flyovers in Hyderabad. The BJP MP said that there were no flyovers in his State,” he elaborated. The chest-thumping continued with Rama Rao stating that in some States and cities, builders had to cough up bribes to the government for each square foot.

“There is no such corruption in Telangana. No one asks for a bribe in Telangana to give permission for constructing buildings,” he emphasised. Meanwhile, R&B Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said that families of all those AP Ministers who had criticised KTR’s comments lived in Hyderabad. “They would have noticed that the people in Hyderabad were not using generators anymore. Jagan himself admitted there were power cuts in AP. Minister KTR only spoke the truth,” Prashanth Reddy said.