Telangana Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao’s (KTR) remarks boasting about the state’s infrastructure while comparing it with the neighbouring state (Andhra Pradesh) which was apparently ‘terrible’ due to power cuts, poor roads and lack of water, has invited strong reactions from the YSRCP-led Jagan government.
Speaking at an event held by Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations (CREDAI) on Friday in Hyderabad, the Minister while promoting Hyderabad city said, “Only when people visit other places will they appreciate our city. Recently, one of my friends went to his native village in the neighbouring state (Andhra Pradesh). After returning from there, he called me up and suggested that I should arrange buses so that people from every village will visit other states. Only then will they realise the pathetic conditions existing in other states, and they will value our state and the government’s works.” Quoting his friend, the Minister said that there was no power, water facility and that the roads were terrible in Andhra Pradesh.
The Minister’s comments did not go well with the Jagan government, which is already striving to salvage its reputation over long power cuts in the state due to acute shortage of coal.
A battery of ministers including Botsa Satyanarayana, Jogi Ramesh, Roja and YSRCP MLAs were quick to condemn KTR’s remarks.
Education Minister Botsa Satyanarayana said that KTR’s comments were unwarranted. He claimed that he had just returned from Hyderabad and alleged that there was no power at his place there. “It is wrong when responsible people make such statements. Ask him to come to the state, I will take him around. He should withdraw his remarks.”
Minister for Housing, Jogi Ramesh claimed that Andhra Pradesh is witnessing a revolutionary change under Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in terms of social change and social justice due to various welfare schemes. He asked KTR to visit Andhra Pradesh and introduce the same welfare schemes in Telangana.
Similarly, Tourism Minister Roja said that if KTR was referring to Andhra Pradesh in his speech, it was “highly condemnable.” “If KTR gives me time, as a Tourism Minister I will show him how we have renovated government schools, hospitals, and have been laying roads for 9,000 kms. We will prove that his friend was misguided.”
Meanwhile, after facing a backlash, Minister KTR later through Twitter expressed that his remark was “innocuous.”
“It appears that an innocuous comment that I had made at a meeting earlier today may have caused some unintentional pain to my friends in AP. I enjoy a great brotherly equation with AP CM Jagan Garu & wish that the state prospers under his leadership,” he tweeted.
It appears that an innocuous comment that I had made at a meeting earlier today may have caused some unintentional pain to my friends in AP
— KTR (@KTRTRS) April 29, 2022
I enjoy a great brotherly equation with AP CM Jagan Garu & wish that the state prospers under his leadership