The Telangana and Andhra Pradesh units of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao for running a disinformation campaign on the merger of seven mandals of Khammam district with Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana BJP chief G. Kishan Reddy and Seemandhra BJP spokesperson Sudheesh Rambhotla said here on Thursday that the transfer of Polavaram project submergence areas to Seemandhra was a settled issue but the TRS leadership was making noise over it knowing well that the decision was taken by the previous UPA government.
They reminded the TRS that it was the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had made a statement in Rajya Sabha based on the amendments moved to the AP Reorganisation Bill stating that incorporating amendments was not possible as the Bill had to go back to Lok Sabha and that they would be included in the form of ordinance. All the parties had agreed upon it paving the way for the passage of the Bill, the BJP leaders said.
“Why didn’t Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao raise the issue then and why was he quiet over moving the court against the transfer of the submergence areas to A.P. He also kept quiet when the matter of seven mandals was included in the gazette published on the Reorganisation Act,” they pointed out and said the TRS chief was trying to gain political mileage.
Another BJP leader K. Laxman suggested to the TRS chief not to become another Kejriwal by trying to divert people’s attention from core issues.
Meanwhile, former APCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana urged the parties not to kick up a fresh controversy on the issue. He said that it was the decision of the Congress-led UPA government to merge the mandals and not that of the BJP-led NDA government.
However, Congress MLC from Khammam, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, blamed the BJP for the “hasty” decision and felt it should have been taken after the two governments assumed charge in A.P.
