Hyderabad: The war of words between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana government continued over fee reimbursement for students of professional colleges. Telangana education minister G. Jagadeeshwar Reddy criticised Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for interfering in Telangana government affairs. He also announced that the T government would come out with guidelines in a day or two.

“Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister is trying to meddle with Telangana government affairs to divert the attention of people from pressing issues and failure to implement promised electoral schemes. Our Chief Minister has promised to pay for Telangana students as per the cut-off period and we will stand by it, ” Mr Reddy said.

Saying that every eligible Telangana student would get fee reimbursement from Telangana government, the minister wanted to know why Mr Naidu, who has promised to construct a new capital for Andhra Pradesh at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, can not promise to pay fees for his own students. “Let him construct Rs 1.5 lakh crore capital or Rs 150 lakh crore capital. We are not concerned. But instead of blaming Telangana government, why doesn’t Mr Naidu pay for his students?” he asked.

Stating that the government was working out modalities for implementing the fee reimbursement scheme, he asserted that the government would protect the academic year of the students and there was no cause for worry.

“Mr Naidu is trying to provoke Telangana government and also his own people. He threatens to go to court. Such provocative statements will not help. Our stand is very clear. We will pay for our students and he should pay for his students,” he firmly said.