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A group of Andhra Pradesh ministers led by senior minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Monday advised Telangana chief minister K Chandra Sekhara Rao to come to the discussion table instead of going for unilateral actions on issues between the two states.
“Let the Telangana chief minister send 2-3 people of his choice and we will also depute a similar number of people from our side. Let them sit together at a neutral place and try and arrive at mutual agreement on the issues arising between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,” Ramakrishnudu, who holds the finance portfolio said Monday.
The Telugu Desam Party(TDP) headed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched a political offensive against Telangana chief minister soon after the Union Home Minister made a clarification on the powers of the governor over the common capital area while turning down the objections of the Telangana government on this issue.
In a development that further boosted the morale of the AP government, the Supreme Court today turned down the Telangana government’s request for extension of time to conduct the admissions to professional colleges in common capital area.
Questioning the objections raised against the powers of the governor over the law and order machinery in Hyderabad, the minister asked the Telangana chief minister as to why he had not objected to these provisions when they were being incorporated in the AP Bifurcation Act during the UPA time.
“The UPA government had neither consulted the TDP nor examined the views of our party before drafting the bifurcation bill. Only you were privy to all the drafting and you also thanked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and even thanked Rajnath Singh, who was BJP president at that time following the passage of the Reorganisation Bill,” the minister said while accusing KCR of trying to create controversies for political gains.
In case there was no mutual agreement on any issue then the Centre will intervene to sort out the matter. When the Centre’s move also fail to yield the desired result then there are courts to settle these issues, the minister pointed out.
It may be recalled that the Telangana chief minister on Saturday owed to mobilise the support of other chief ministers to fight against the Centre’s attempt to usurp the powers of state government by giving police powers to governor. Union Home Minister clarified that the advisory sent to Telangana government in this regard was only a reiteration of what has already been there in the AP Reorganisation Act.
The AP government also decided to write letters to the President and the Prime Minister to put in place a firm mechanism to protect the lives and properties of citizens in the common capital region as prescribed in the bifurcation act.
