VISAKHAPATNAM: HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao Sunday accused Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of being a ‘tughlaq’ and turning ‘vindictive’ against Andhra people who are residing in Telangana state, particularly Hyderabad. He also alleged that Chandrasekhara Rao has a ‘hidden agenda’ behind the proposed door-to-door survey in Telangana state on August 19.
“Nobody would have objected if it is a socio-economic survey, but it has nine categories and a hidden agenda, too,” he said and raised objections against questions 21, 22 and 23, which were allegedly targeted at identifying non-locals.
The minister lashed out at KCR for describing the Andhra people living in Hyderabad as ‘his own’ earlier and changing tracks now to send them out of the state. “His action reminded me of ‘Tughlaq’. The question on which year the respondent came to Telangana indicates that the Telangana CM wants to impose a cut-off date for people from Andhra living in Hyderabad. Worse, he might ask them to leave to their native places. India is a free country and all Indians are free to live in any part of the country,” he felt.
The Telangana government had failed to keep its promise to begin the certificate verification from Saturday, as part of EAMCET admissions.
“Indeed, KCR is playing with the future of students by intentionally delaying the counselling,” the minister said and supported the action of the Centre in giving more powers to the Governor for safeguarding the ‘migrants’ in Hyderabad. “Unfortunately, the Telangana CM had no faith in the Constitution,” the minister added.
Ganta found fault with KCR for his outbursts against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. He also objected to the formation of Telangana State Council of Higher Education, which is in violation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, which proposed to continue the existing Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education for another 10 years and conduct some common entrance tests.