Ending a decade-long chill in the relationship between the sibling Telugu states, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counterpart A Revanth Reddy met in Hyderabad on Saturday, an occasion that was filled with warmth, bonhomie and friendship.
Both were accompanied by their senior cabinet colleagues, respective chief secretaries and other officers, who made PowerPoint presentations on their demands and expectations from each other.
The significance of the meeting was not lost on the political observers. Naidu and Revanth were colleagues in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) before the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh that set them on different political journeys and eventually put them at the helm of the sibling states.
The meeting helped to break the ice between the two states, caught in a string of disputes related to the division of AP ten years ago to carve out a separate Telangana state.
Both sides presented a roadmap on how the pending issues can be resolved. They also discussed issues where the Centre’s intervention is required, like the division of water of the Godavari and Krishna rivers. The discussion was mainly about setting up a platform and a channel for both governments to discuss issues without acrimony.
The two chief ministers met as old friends, hugging each other before they sat down at the negotiating table.
The three-hour-long meeting decided to constitute a high power committee, comprising chief secretaries and two officials each from the two states, to address the bifurcation issues.
The committee, which cannot resolve the issues at its level, would refer them to a panel of ministers from both states. If any issues remain unresolved, the chief ministers of both states would address them.
“The first meeting between the two chief ministers was more exploratory. Many more interactions will happen in due course,” the Telangana deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka said.
“We did not assume that all the issues would be resolved at today’s meeting. We made a beginning in the direction of finding a solution. There are quite several issues that remained intractable all these years and they needed to be addressed at least now,” he said.
AP Revenue Minister Satya Prasad said that Naidu, after taking over as the chief minister, was keen on resolving the issues between the two states at the earliest in his endeavour to put the state back on the road to development.
The two chief ministers went through the issues relating to the division of the assets between the two states listed in the ninth and tenth schedule of the AP State Reorganisation Act, a dispute over the arrears of over Rs 6,700 crore payable to Andhra Pradesh for supplying power to Telangana in the initial days after the bifurcation, among others.
Naidu, in his first term from 2014 to 2019, and K Chandrasekhar Rao, while in power from 2014 to 2023, were unable to hold any meetings to resolve the issues, and were considered hostile to each other.
When Jagan stormed to power in 2019, KCR welcomed him, and several meetings were held between officials of the two states, but the deadlock continued as neither refused to cede any ground.
When Naidu’s TDP-led NDA secured a landslide win in the recent elections, Revanth, in a phone call while congratulating him, extended the hand of friendship and said the two states should resolve pending matters related to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 in a friendly atmosphere.
Naidu responded positively, and wrote a letter to Revanth on July 2, suggesting a meeting at Hyderabad on July 6.
At least 14 issues are pending between the two states, including clearing power dues that both states owe to each other, bifurcation of 91 institutions, and division of cash balance and bank deposits. The effective division of cash and assets would unlock funds that both states need for welfare schemes.
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