Minister for Textiles and Handlooms P Shankar Rao on Monday expressed his long cherished dream to hold a Ministry without a portfolio. He desired that he be kept in charge of IB (Intelligence Bureau) to play the role of keeping the High Command posted with the day to day affairs of the state.
The Minister is believed to have returned to the city after attending the NRIs' meet along with Industries Minister Geetha Reddy in New Delhi.
Speaking to media persons at the Secretariat, Dr Shankar Rao took exception to the
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Bandaru Dattatreya calling Governor ESL Narasimhan as an
agent of Centre. The Minister also denied that the UPA government indulge in activities such as seeking reports from the state Governor as the Congress party chief was always abreast of the events that were going on in AP.
Dr Shankar Rao recalled how in the neighbouring Karnataka, the BJP government was cornered by its own MLAs over the scams which have come to light. The Minister also lashed out at the BJP leaders like Advani, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley for criticising Sonia Gandhi at their recent Guwahati executive meeting.
He said that Ms Sonia Gandhi had refused to accept Prime Ministership despite the opportunity. Trying to undermine her patriotism was not in good light, the Minister maintained.
He added that she was part of a family which donated their property to the nation and belittling her in this manner was not proper for leaders of stature of Advani, Dr Shankar Rao opined.
Congress MLA Palvai Govardhan Reddy who also chose to belittle the Governor, saying that he acted like General Dyer came in for severe criticism.
The Minister also disagreed with the views of Mr Govardhan Reddy that Governor gave a wrong report to the Centre on AP.
Referring to the stormy petrel of Kadapa, YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the Minister claimed that in the event of his yet to be launched party contesting in the next elections, the number of his MLAs would be in single digit.