CM apologises to Naidu

Hyderabad, Aug 31 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today withdrew his 'sarcastic' remark against his predecessor N Chandrababu Naidu after the opposition TDP members staged a noisy protest in the House.

''It is absolutely not my intention to hurt the feelings of the Leader of the opposition. I Apologise and withdraw my remark if they felt it is sarcastic. I don't want him to feel hurt'', he told the House after the opposition party members were on their feet taking strong objection to his remark on Mr Naidu's tenure.

''I cannot deny or anyone else cannot deny that he(Mr Naidu) was the longest serving Chief Minister of the State'', he said, adding he had referred to his tenure only to emphasise that a person with that much of administrative experience would not not know that under certain circumstances, the officials were forced to withdraw the notification for land acquistion and it was not proper to attribute motives.

As soon as Dr Reddy referred to Mr Naidu as having served as Chief Minister for eight years, eight months and 13 days, the House witnessed uprorious scenes with TDP members staging a noisy protest demanding that the former withdraw the sarcastic remark.

Legislative Affairs Minister K Rosaiah rose to take a dig at TDLP Deputy Leader T Devender Goud for refusing to withdraw his highly ''unparlimentary and derogatory'' remark against a Congress member during the debate yesterday.

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