Hyderabad: IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Wednesday sharply criticised TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh for their blatant “self-promotion” during the GHMC election campaign over the setting up of various IT establishments in Hyderabad and the promises they are making for the development of Hyderabad.
Earlier, Mr Lokesh criticised KTR, stating that he (Lokesh) was local and the minister was a non-local in Hyderabad city.
Responding to this, the IT minister targeted Mr Lokesh during an interaction session with the Telangana IT Association (TITA) at T-hub Wednesday and advised him to concentrate on the development of Amaravati, the proposed capital city of Andhra Pradesh instead of promising development for Hyderabad to GHMC voters.
KTR asked Mr Lokesh that, TD being a part of NDA, why his party could not get funds from central government for the development of Amaravati.
“What has the PM given to AP during the foundation ceremony of Amaravati except a basketful of soil and some water? Lokesh is promising that the TD will develop GHMC by procuring funds from the Centre. His party that is not able to get funds from the Centre is saying this. How can it procure funds for the development of Hyde-rabad city? I urge him to concentrate on Amara-vati and leave Hyderabad for TRS,” he said.
Criticising Chandrababu Naidu, KTR said, “Naidu used to say that he developed Hyderabad and IT. It was the time that the world was looking towards developing Information Technology by introducing it across the globe and Chandrababu just got it in. Who developed IT in Bangalore? That was simply the time for establishment of IT companies. Chandrababu may even say that it was he who invented the computer and Internet,” KTR said.
The minister said IT growth rate in the state has been recorded at 16 per cent against the national average of 13 per cent, and this was due to the special efforts of the government in the last 18 months.
“Hyderabad will become the number-one city in the country for software industry with the arrival of global IT majors like Google, Amazon, Flipkart and Uber. Impetus will be provided for the hardware industry as also for the next wave areas like cloud computing, data analytics, cyber security, gaming, animation and mobile technologies,” he said.
He urged IT professionals to vote without fail, irrespective of their attitudes for or against one or other political party.
TS Budget Session to run alongside AP’s session
Telangana State Assembly’s Budget Session is likely to be held either from the last week of February or first week of March. The dates will clash with Andhra Pradesh Assembly’s Budget Session, planned from March 1 to 23.
Last year also, both the state legislatures held their Budget Sessions simultaneously, creating a record of sorts of holding two state legislature meeting in the same premises at the same time.
TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had plans to advance the start of the Budget Session to January last week, ahead of presentation of the Union Budget, so that the state would be in a position to properly plan its budgetary provisions.
However, due to the ongoing GHMC polls and Narayankhed Assembly bypoll — which will be followed by the Medaram Sammakka-Saralamma Tribal festivities “the CM was forced to change his plan. It is now decided to hold the Budget Session after February 22.
A senior official said, “The GHMC elections and the Narayankhed bypoll are the main reasons for a change of the CM’s plan.
