Former Minister T G Venkatesh, who had switched his loyalty from Congress to Telugu Desam Party soon after Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated, is known for his controversial remarks. And on Thursday, too, he lived up to his reputation.

The maverick politician from Kurnool, while interacting with the media at Vijayawada on Thursday, sarcastically remarked that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao might be justified in “harassing” the Andhra settlers in Hyderabad.

“If KCR does not do that, Andhra people continue to remain in Hyderabad and refuse to leave it,” he commented.

He also found fault with AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for choosing Vijayawada and surroundings as the State capital.

Asserting that a second capital of the residuary state of AP should be in Kurnool where 30,000 acres of government was readily available,

Venkatesh said that he would not hesitate to launch a movement to achieve this and thus protect the rights of the Rayalaseema people. He had brought this to the notice of Chandrababu Naidu at the time of his joining the TDP, he explained.

Referring to KCR’s move to demolish government buildings to rebuild new ones, the TDP leader quipped that this was being done because the Telangana State was having surplus budget.

While Telangana is suffering from indigestion with surplus funds, AP is starving for funds, he observed and felt that the Telangana Government should come forward to give, as a loan to AP, its overflowing funds.