Telangana CM under fire for decision to shift secretariat

Telangana government's decision to build a new secretariat -- by abandoning the existing building for bad 'vastu' among other reasons -- is drawing flak from the opposition.
Telugu Desam, CPI and BJP have strongly opposed the Chandrasekhar Rao government's decision to relocate the chest hospital at Erragadda here and build the new secretariat in its place.
The state cabinet two days ago decided to build a new secretariat at the cost of Rs 150 crore as, according to the Chief Minister, the existing building does not comply with rules of 'vastu-shastra'.
"The existing secretariat does not have a good vastu and therefore governments are not stable. They are facing a whole set of problems," Rao said.

The current secretariat is shared by governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, post-bifurcation. The Telangana offices function from A, B, C and D blocks while five other blocks are allotted to AP government; a heritage structure built by the erstwhile Nizam stands vacant and in ruins.
"KCR is acting like Mohammad Bin Tuglaq. Where is the need to construct a new secretariat when the existing one stands in good shape," CPI leader K Narayana said.

If the Chief Minister was worried about vastu, he should confine it to his own house, Narayana said.
"Why is KCR so scared of the current secretariat. How did he become the Chief Minister if the secretariat's vastu is not good," said senior TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy.

State BJP president G Kishan Reddy also came down heavily on Rao for seeking to waste the public money.
"Is a new secretariat really necessary? Many blocks (in the existing building) will become vacant once the AP government moves to its new capital near Vijayawada," he said.
Reddy also asked why the Chief Minister did not convene all-party meeting on the issue and said BJP would strongly oppose the decision.