Andhra Pradesh ministers hit back at Harish Rao on \'harassment\' remarks
VIJAYAWADA: Telangana minister T. Harish Rao’s claim that teachers were being harassed in Andhra Pradesh, and that the AP government was fixing meters to agricultural connections to secure Central funds touched a raw nerve in capital Amaravati on Friday. Many AP ministers and YSRC leaders lined up to take on Harish Rao.
Harish Rao told TS teachers that they were in a good position to compare the conditions before and after state bifurcation. “If you talk to your friends (in AP), you will understand how cases are being filed,” he said and added, “Teachers of Telangana get higher salaries than Central government employees and teachers of other states.” The TS government had given teachers 73 per cent fitment in their salary, he claimed.
AP leaders advised Harish Roa not to drag AP into Telangana politics. Government adviser Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy asked Harish Rao to settle his scores with his uncle and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and not comment on the AP government.
Ramakrishna Reddy said, “Harish Rao is acting at the behest of ‘Gang of Four’ which has been targeting Jagan without any substance. There may be a thousand issues in Telangana but it is not our business to speak about them.”
Advising Harish Rao to focus on governance, Ramakrishna Reddy said that Harish Rao’s comments appeared to be part of a bigger conspiracy to provoke AP ministers and YSRC leaders to attack Chandrashekar Rao. “We are unwilling to enter into any unnecessary controversy with anyone including KCR,” Ramakrishna Reddy said and stated that this was not the first time that Harish Rao had taken on the AP government.
AP industries Gudivada Amarnath said they did not need any lesson from Telangana on any issue. “Harish Rao should learn from AP state how to implement welfare schemes,” he said.
AP education minister Botsa Satyanarayana said teachers in AP were very happy with the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. He invited Harish Rao to interact with AP teachers to know the truth. He said Harish Rao could understand the difference between the two states by comparing their pay revision commission reports.
In Telangana, Narsampet TRS MLA Peddi Sudarshan Reddy strongly condemned the criticism of Harish Rao by AP leaders. He claimed that the Telangana government had given teachers 73 per cent fitment, while it was not more than 66 per cent in neighbouring states. He said it was a fact that the AP government had taken Rs 7,000 crore from the Centre to fixing meters for free power connection.
