Hyderabad law and order must be with governor, Andhra urges president

The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday sought President Pranab Mukherjee's intervention for law and order powers in Hyderabad being handed over to the governor.

A delegation of state ministers and Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao met the president separately to complain against the attitude of the Telangana government on post-bifurcation issues.

They sought implementation of section 8 of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, which empowers governor to supervise law and order in Hyderabad, the joint capital of the two states.

The delegation and later the chief secretary called on the president at Rashtrapathi Nilayam at Bolarum, where he is currently on a southern sojourn.

The ministers led by Deputy Chief Minister K. E. Krishna Murthy alleged that the Telangana government is tapping phones of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, ministers, top officials and key leaders of Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

The ministers later told reporters that they brought to Mukherjee's notice the attitude of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government on section 8 and other issues.

The president assured them that he would look into the issue, they said.

"The request of Andhra Pradesh government is to implement section 8 which would instill confidence in the minds of the people who have settled here from other areas. This assumes significance, more so in the light of deragatory offensive remarks against people of Andhra Pradesh being that regularly uttered by a number of public functionaries," the chief secretary said in his memorandum to the president.

Krishna Rao also brought to his notice certain incidents in which bureaucrats from Andhra were insulted by Telangana government and police.

He complained that Telangana is claiming most of the 142 institutions included in Schedule X of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act based on their location in and around Hyderabad.

The viewpoint of Andhra Pradesh is since they are built with the revenues of united Andhra Pradesh and their location either in Hyderabad or otherwise is a historical accident.

The division of most of the assets and liabilities as envisaged in the act is based upon population ratio and the request of Andhra Pradesh government is to apply the same to these institutions. The matter is now pending before the Supreme Court but the Telangana government has taken over these institutions.

Krishna Rao requested that "status quo ante" may be maintained as on June 2, 2014 with reference to Schedule-X institutions till the issue is decided by the central government or by the Supreme Court.

The Andhra government also took exception to Telangana government's action in dividing of staff of some Schedule-IX institutions (commercial undertakings) based on their nativity.

The TDP government of Andhra maintains that the staff should be divided on population basis.

The president was urged to direct the Telangana government to maintain status quo ante pending formulation of guidelines in a mutually accepted manner on staff division.