Even as the Telangana government is mulling over hiking the RTC employees salaries on a par with its staff, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reportedly ruled out the possibility of giving in to the demands of striking RTC staff, who want 43 per cent fitment hike in their salaries. Naidu on Tuesday asked the AP Cabinet sub-committee, headed by Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, to convince the RTC employees to accept the proposed 27 per cent hike being offered by the AP government.

According to sources, Naidu during the Cabinet meeting held here on Tuesday, reportedly told his colleagues that the Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was trying to create another proble for him by accepting the demands of the RTC employees. “Already KCR created problems for us by giving his government employees 43 per cent fitment of hike in their salaries.

Because of his act, we were forced to do the same. Now again, he is trying to put us in trouble by accepting RTC employees’ demands,” Naidu reportedly told his colleagues. “It is not possible for us to give 43 per cent fitment hike to RTC staff. If we give in to their demands, we will have to increase the fares of RTC buses. This will lead to great resentment among people, which is not good for our government,” the Chief Minister was quoted as saying.

Later, speaking to reporters at secretariat here, Labour Minister K Atchannaidu and Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao said the financial positions of Telangana and AP are different and hence there is no question of giving the same salary hike to the RTC staff as is being offered by the TS government.

“Our situation is different from that of TS. TSRTC’s financial loss is much less than that of the APSRTC. Hence, it is not possible for the AP government to increase the RTC employees’ salaries as they are demanding,” Atchannaidu said.

He said the Cabinet sub-committee constituted to look into the issue had been asked to talk to the RTC employees’ unions again on Wednesday and find a solution at the earliest. “The Chief Minister has asked the sub-committee to convince the unions’ leaders to accept the government’s proposal and withdraw the strike,” he said.Meanwhile, AP Transport Minister Sidda Raghava Rao ruled out the government accepting the demand of 43 per cent fitment of RTC employees. “The State government is not in a position to give 43 per cent fitment to the RTC staff. The employees should understand and accept the fitment being offered by the State government,” he said.