Congress-PRP Merger Not Betrayal: Ramchandraiah

Endowments minister C Ramchandraiah on Wednesday condemned TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu for criticising union Tourism minister K Chiranjeevi and the erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress Legislature Party office, Ramchandraiah criticised Naidu for dubbing the Congress-PRP merger a "social betrayal".

"If the merger was a social betrayal, then how does Naidu define the episode of him snatching power from his father-in-law N T Rama Rao?" he questioned.

Speaking about Naidu's promises, Ramchandraiah said that Naidu was to be a copycat by claiming credit for every one of the Congress' successful schemes. He said that making mere promises during the padayatra was not sufficient, and that Naidu would have to include all these promises in his party's manifesto.

Ramchandraiah said that the cash transfer scheme, which would be launched in 50 districts on a pilot basis, would help the poor. However, he said, Naidu has been criticising the scheme for his own political gains.

Similarly, he said that the Congress has been giving free power to farmers since 2004, but that Naidu had scrapped the free power scheme while he was in power.

He claimed that it was Rajiv Gandhi who had brought IT revolution in the country, but that Naidu was falsely taking credit for Hyderabad's IT revolution.

"Similarly, DWCRA schemes were initiated by P V Narasimha Rao, and Naidu has been staking claim on the same," he said.

The minister also described former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as "one of the most corrupt chief ministers" in the state. He said that the erstwhile PRP had rejected his offer of a merger with the Congress because of his corrupt practices. However, when the PRP got an invite from Sonia Gandhi, it was accepted, he said. (INN)