Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Tuesday hit back at Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao saying the Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader’s recent attacks on the BJP and the Centre had been an attempt to divert attention from his party’s loss in the Huzurabad bypoll .
Mr. Rao had said on Sunday the Centre had no moral right to ask States to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel and accused it of lying about the increase in crude oil prices internationally. He also hit out at the Centre for not procuring paddy and threw his support behind the farmers’ protest.
Reacting to the allegations, Mr. Reddy, who holds the Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region portfolios, said the Centre had paid for the entire cost of procuring raw rice grains and that the Telangana Government did not incur any additional expense. He said the Centre had procured 40,000 lakh metric tonnes of raw rice from Telangana but the State wanted the Centre to buy more parboiled rice, the procurement of which had been reduced due to lack of demand.
He said the Centre had been communicating with the Telangana Government for the past few years to discourage parboiled rice production. “The Telangana Government failed to explain it to the rice millers.”
In response to Mr. Rao’s allegation that the BJP labels its critics as “urban Naxals”, Mr. Reddy said: “That is not true. Give one such example.
"He [Mr. Rao] used terms like ‘we'll set fire to the country’ and ‘cut your tongues’. Such unparliamentary statements are not appropriate for a Chief Minister.”
