Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah on Wednesday slammed Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu for unnecessarily politicizing the power tariff hike issue to get mileage on it.
Talking to media persons, Ponnala Lakshmaiah said that the hike in power tariff would not affect the farmers and poor people in the State and it would affect 1.17 crore consumers marginally. “The tariff hike is minor and will not affect the poor people and farmers,” he claimed.
Stating that the government has reduced the tariff for consumer who are using between 50-100 units, Ponnala said that the government was committed to supply seven hours of power to the farmers at any cost. He said that the State Government’s role was minor in increasing the power tariff. He accused Naidu of unnecessarily raising the controversy and staging protests and dharnas to get mileage on it.
The minister said that the people of the State would never believe Naidu and they would teach him a fitting lesson to his party in the next elections. “This time Naidu will not even get the position of opposition leader for his opportunistic politics,” he said.
Ponnala said that Naidu has been staging these cheap tricks with an eye on power since he is in opposition for eight years. (INN)