Crucial meet of Telangana, AP CMs over bifurcation issues raises hopes
The meeting assumes political significance as at one point of time Reddy was a close lieutenant of Naidu as a TDP MLA
image for illustrative purpose
Vijayawada: The first meeting between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counterpart A Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad on Saturday to resolve several contentious issues arising out of bifurcation has generated a lot of hope.
The disputes regarding sharing of assets and liabilities as enshrined in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act have remained unresolved even after attempts by YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao when they were the Chief Ministers of the two Telugu-speaking States.
The Saturday meeting is being held on the initiative of Naidu and the immediate response by Revanth Reddy to host it in Hyderabad. In response to Naidu’s letter proposing the meeting, Reddy immediately said they should meet on July 6 saying “I am in complete agreement with the proposal.”
The meeting assumes political significance as at one point of time Reddy was a close lieutenant of Naidu as a TDP MLA. Both Naidu and Reddy were accused in the ‘cash for note’ scam booked by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of TG when KCR was the Chief Minister. On the charge of distributing cash at the behest of Naidu to win the support of nominated MLC Stephenson for TDP candidate Vema Narender Reddy in the MLC biennial elections, Reddy was arrested by the ACB sleuths.
After walking out of NDA in 2018, in the Assembly elections Naidu’s TDP aligned with Congress in the TG Assembly elections due to which Naidu despite a proposal could not hold talks with KCR to resolve bifurcation disputes. With Naidu deciding to focus on Amaravati and shifting employees from Hyderabad to the new capital, TDP also weakened its presence. Reddy joined the Congress in 2017 and contested for MLA as a party nominee from Kodangal in 2018.
Often described as ‘guru-sishya,’ there is a lot of optimism that the Naidu-Reddy meeting will help thrash out many of the differences.
Hyderabad, which was made the joint capital for both the States, ceased to be the joint capital with effect from June 2, 2024. Now Naidu’s focus is on developing Amaravati as the people’s capital and one of the topmost cities in the world.
There are several issues over which TG and AP have crossed swords in the past. One of them is the demand for transfer of five gram panchayats in Bhadrachalam mandal to TG and the sharing of Krishna river water. The Saturday’s meeting is expected to discuss sharing of land parcels, buildings, bank resources of common institutes at 52.48 ratio in proportion to population.
The officials from both the States have prepared reports on their respective claims over sharing of assets and liabilities of 23 corporations listed in the 9th schedule.
