Telangana Rashtra Samiti president K. Chandrasekhar Rao has accused Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy of speaking “blatant lies” in defending integrated State and wondered what moral right the latter enjoyed to continue in power despite his biased view.
Insisting that the lies ahead of formation of Telangana State were no good, he challenged Mr. Reddy to an open debate to put the record straight.
Addressing a press conference today, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said the Chief Minister misled people in projecting the strength of advocates from coastal districts in Hyderabad and warning about a blackout in Telangana due to bifurcation of the State.
Mr. Reddy made a false claim that there were 40,000 to 50,000 advocates from coastal districts in Hyderabad. But, figures reeled out from the office of the Registrar of High Court and Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh showed their strength only at 3,000 to 4,000. Mr. Reddy also spoke lies that the advocates shifted their practice from coastal districts to Hyderabad reposing faith in the city though the High Court here was as old as 1919.
Power scenario
On the threat of blackout in separate Telangana, Mr. Rao said no doubt there would be a shortfall in power generation when the statehood was achieved but it would not be a permanent feature as projected by Mr. Reddy because there were several new projects on the anvil in the region, Chhattisgarh promised to sell power and a 3,000 MW cushion was always there in Central generating stations.
In addition, there were coal deposits in Telangana to tap an additional 10,000 MW of power.
Agreeing with the Chief Minister that Andhra would be power surplus by 3,209 MW, Mr. Rao said Telangana would buy from this neighbour in that case.
“Why should we not buy from you when you talk of unity of Telugus and Teluguhood?” He reminded that Andhra was 90 per cent poor in power before formation of the State in 1956.
KCR also derided the claim of Mr. Reddy that States were not formed on the basis of movements. “What about the movement by Potti Sriramulu for Andhra Pradesh?” he asked.
He maintained that bifurcation of the State was over with the announcement by the Congress on July 30. The combined State was a closed chapter.
The experiment of Andhra Pradesh had miserably failed. He counselled Mr. Reddy not to damage the endurance of the Telangana movement by raking up “unwarranted issues.”
‘Remove CM’
Meanwhile, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) deputy floor leader in Assembly T. Harish Rao has demanded that Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy should be removed from the post as he failed to act impartially. He added that the CM had openly admitted that he had signed on the request urging the Congress high command to keep the State united and this was enough reason for the people in the Telangana region to reject him.
