War of words after KCR says Andhra govt staff may have to leave Hyderabad

Less than a week  after the announcement of the formation of the separate state of Telangana, TRS chief KC Rao said that government employees in Hyderabad would have to leave once the separate state is formed to make way for local recruits.

Addressing a rally in Hyderabad, the TRS chief was quoted by the Indian Express as saying:

They have no other option. If Andhra has to start working, all Andhra employees will have to go back. We are not saying ‘bhago, bhago’, we are only saying that those who have cornered our jobs illegally and wrongly should go back

The speech expectedly met with outrage from leaders opposing the creation of Telangana saying that it only showed the fact that people from other parts of the state would be targeted after the new state was formed.

“This was expected…They are saying we will drive people away and have said it many times in the past,” Congress MP L Rajagopal told CNN-IBN.

He blamed the TRS chief’s statement on the promises he had made earlier to vote banks.

“They have promised people jobs and what they will do is drive the people in Hyderabad away and tell the others to occupy their jobs,” he said.

However, Rao’s daughter, Kavita, said that his statement was being misinterpreted to the convenience of those opposing the creation of Telangana.

“It was written as if he threatened all the employees to go back but he was only merely saying that when two governments are formed the Andhra government would also need employees. So Andhra and Rayalseema people who are working here will naturally go back to their native places as a part of the procedure,” she told CNN-IBN. 

She said that her father hadn’t said that all the government employees would compulsorily have to go to the other state.

“Today’s Andhra Pradesh secreatriat has only 21 percent of its employees from Telanagana. We were supposed to have 42 percent originally. So, naturally, when a Telangana state is formed, the rest of the employees will be filled by Telangana employees.  That is a natural process, it is nothing that is not going to actually happen,” she said.

She also alleged that leaders from the Seemandhra region were distorting the statements to incite further regional tensions.