Sailajanath condemns Naidu's criticism on power tariff hike

Primary Education Minister S Sailajanath on Tuesday came down heavily on Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu for targeting Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy over the power tariff issue. 

Talking to media persons, Sailajanath said that Chandrababu Naidu was unnecessarily raising the power tariff issue to get mileage on it despite the hike was minor with a little impact on consumers. He said that the Chief Minister conducted a review meeting with the officials concerned and directed them to exempt the farmers and poorer sections from the tariff hike.

The minister said that the government’s decision to give an additional subsidy of Rs 175 crore would benefit 135 lakh power consumers out of 243.6 lakh. He said that the consumers who consume less than 100 units would get benefitted from the decision. He alleged that Naidu was pressing this issue repeatedly with an eye on the by-elections.

Sailajanath said that there was a lot of difference between the style of functioning of Kiran Kumar Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu. He alleged that Naidu was quite desperate to return to power and lost his mental balance for the same reason.