Minister for Tourism and Sports Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao on Sunday asked the TDP not to make an issue out of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy not getting an invite for the banquet being hosted by the Rashtrapati Bhavan in honour of visiting U.S. President Donald Trump.
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“It has become a habit for the TDP to make a mountain out of a molehill,” Mr. Srinivasa Rao said referring to the invitation extended to some Chief Minister, who included Telangana’s K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
“How will it be possible to extend an invitation to all the Chief Minister?” he asked.
The Minister was here to declare open the State-level kabaddi tournament and take part in the programme to launch works on the underground power cable network. His Cabinet colleagues Balineni Srinivasa Reddy and A. Suresh were present.
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‘Disinformation campaign’
He accused the TDP of unleashing a disinformation campaign against decentralisation of the capital.
The YSRCP government was against capital-centric model of development in view of the adverse effects of the Hyderabad model on Seemandhra. Investments would be spread across the State, including Amaravati, to ensure decentralised development and ensure there were no demands for further division of the State in the future.
“What people of the drought-prone Prakasam district need the most is water and not capital, and this will be ensured by early completion of the Veligonda project,” the Minister said.
Insider trading
Denying any “political vengeance” behind the constitution of a Special Investigation team (SIT) to probe alleged insider trading in the purchase of lands in the Amaravati region, Mr. Srinivasa Rao asked the TDP leaders to come clean as the due process of the SIT filing cases after a thorough probe and courts deciding on the charges would be followed.