Why start TRS in AP? Better merge states, Perni Venkataramaiah tells KCR

VIJAYAWADA: Information and public relations minister Perni Venkataramaiah alias Nani wished that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao fulfil his dream of starting a unit of the TRS in AP by working for reunification of Telangana and AP. Questioning the need to establish the TRS in two states he sarcastically pointed out that it would not be required if AP and Telangana had merged into one. He said Rao should move a resolution in his Cabinet seeking merger of the two states for a chance to contest from any place of his choice. Nani also recalled that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had earlier had sought united AP and now a merger would help Telugu people to live together in one state.

The minister said that the government had not forced aided educational institutions to surrender control to the government and refuted allegations of the Telugu Desam and other Opposition parties in this regard. He clarified that merger of aided educational institutions was optional and not mandatory. He further clarified that three options were given to aided educational institutions under which the institution can surrender aided staff with the institute and run as private institutions or the aided educational institutions that gave consent for merger can withdraw their consent to run their institutions.

Minister Nani claimed that ganja cultivation largely increased during the Telugu Desam rule and YSR Congress started efforts to curb the menace. He pointed out that the then TD ministers Ganta Srinivas Rao and Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu in 2017 had stated the increase in ganja cultivation in Visakhapatnam region and spoke about the anguish of the then chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu admitted that AP was on top in ganja cultivation and trade activities in 2017 itself.