There appears to be no end to the war of words between the leaders of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
In the recent past, Hyderabad and the Polavaram project were the subjects of dispute; now, comments by senior Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader, T. Harish Rao, who holds the Finance and Health portfolios, have triggered a war of words between the neighbouring States. While addressing teachers at a meeting of the State Teachers’ Union in late September, Mr. Rao said that among the States, Telangana was paying the highest salaries to government employees. He claimed that the State government had paid a 73% fitment to government employees in just five years, which the Andhra Pradesh government had not done.
Senior leaders and Ministers of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government lashed out at Mr. Rao for his “uncalled for comments”. Andhra Pradesh Minister of Industries Gudivada Amarnath said Mr. Rao should sort out his differences with his maternal uncle and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao instead of commenting on Andhra Pradesh. He wondered whether criticising the Andhra Pradesh government would give any political mileage to the TRS in Telangana. Pointing out that Telangana was in a better financial position than Andhra Pradesh because it had Hyderabad, Mr. Amarnath alleged that the TRS government had not done anything in the last eight years of its rule. The Andhra Pradesh government was implementing a slew of welfare schemes for the poor in spite of its financial position, he said. What welfare schemes was the TRS government implementing despite its better financial position, he asked.
