Hyderabad: Notwithstanding the bus yatra, Telangana state fin-ance minister Etela Raje-nder said on Monday that more Telugu Desam leaders would join the TRS soon. “You will come to know about it shortly. The bus yatra will not stop Telugu Desam leaders from joining the TRS. The party will be wiped out in Telangana,” he said.
Mr Rajender, however, refused to reveal any names of the TD leaders who were planning to join the TRS.
Sources in the TRS say that some TD and Congr-ess leaders, including legislators, may join the TRS during the party’s plenary session on Saturday or during a public meeting to be addressed by Chief Minister K. Chandrase-khar Rao on Sunday.
Three TD legislators Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Teegala Krishna Reddy and Gangadhar Goud have already joined the TRS while another MLA, C. Dharma Reddy, who had met the Chief Mini-ster and then backed out, has again announced his decision to join the TRS.
Hitting out at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Telugu Desam leaders for their anti-Telangana stance and for spreading lies against the TRS government, Mr Rajender accu-sed them of driving farmers to suicide with false propaganda.
“He (Naidu) was the one who called agriculture as a waste of time and asked the youth to take up software profession. The TD and the Congress neglected the power sector in Telangana; 25,000 farmers died during their rule. What moral right do the TD leaders have to undertake the bus yatra now?” he asked.
Stating that the Telugu Desam, the Congress and a section of the Andhra media were spreading venom against the fledgling TRS government, he asked why Telangana TD leaders did not ask Mr Naidu to ensure 54 per ce-nt share of power for Tel-angana from Krishnapat-nam and also from Sileru.
“Telangana Telugu Desam leaders are falling prey to money bags. The TD was kicked out in 2004, yet they have not learnt a lesson. If they continue the anti-Telangana campaign they will be taught a fitting lesson. It’s an Andhra party and a party of contractors and businessmen like C.M. Ramesh, Nama Nag-eswara Rao and Sujana Choudhry,” he said.
On the severe power crisis, he said the Telangana government was trying hard to be self sufficient in power and was trying all its available resources to fill the 2,700 MW gap.
“Power shortage will ea-se by next year,” he said.
Taking a dig at the An-dhra media for distorting facts, he said if they continued with the disinformation campaign and distorting reports, he would be forced to issue handouts instead of speaking to them.
Clarifying that he had not said that Naxals were causing hindrance in the laying of power lines by the Power Grid Corporation of India in Dandakaranya region bordering Chhattisgarh, Mr Rajender said the extremist problem was a national issue and not just confined to a state.
