How Naidu ‘arm-twisted’ Modi into merging 7 Telangana mandals with AP

Revanth Reddy, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha election, had released on May 3 a specific manifesto of the Congress for Telangana.

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister designate N Chandrababu Naidu’s comments on Tuesday on how he got seven mandals in Telangana’s Khammam merged with AP way back in 2014 could be an indication of how things could be for his protege and Telangana Chief Minister, A Revanth Reddy, in the coming days.

Revanth Reddy, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha election, had released on May 3 a specific manifesto of the Congress for Telangana. Among other promises, the Congress had vowed to get back five villages – Etapaka, Gundala, Purushothampatnam, Kannegudem and Pichukulapadu under Bhadrachalam division – that were part of the seven mandals merged with AP. This, he had said, was to pave the way for comprehensive development of the Sree Seetha Ramachandra Swamy Temple in Bhadrachalam.

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However, Naidu’s statements while addressing a meeting of NDA MLAs at Vijayawada on Tuesday, indicate that Revanth Reddy might have to really struggle to keep the promise that his party made on getting back the five villages into Telangana.

The TDP chief, interacting with MLAs, stressed on the importance of the seven mandals from Khammam that were merged with Andhra Pradesh for the execution of the Polavaram project. Pointing out that Polaravam was a crucial irrigation project for Andhra Pradesh, he recalled that the seven mandals that faced the possibility of being submerged due to Polaravam were under Telangana’s limits and unless the Telangana government agreed to hand them over, the project works would not have been taken up. Though the then Telangana government stood steadfast that Polavaram could be dangerous for the State, Naidu made sure he got his wish done.

He said that after the 2014 Assembly elections, he had flown to New Delhi and spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the then BJP national president Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu to get things moving the way he wanted.

“During the meeting, I insisted that unless the seven mandals are merged with Andhra Pradesh, I will not swear in as the Chief Minister. The Prime Minister in the first cabinet meeting issued an ordinance and merged the seven mandals with our State and then the Parliament session was conducted,” Naidu recalled on Tuesday.

“Had the seven mandals not been merged with Andhra Pradesh through the ordinance, Polaravam project works would not have been commenced,” he added.

Coming back to the present, after Naidu’s victory in the recent polls, Revanth Reddy had called him and spoke to him over phone, stressing on how the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh should maintain cordial relations and cooperate with each other in resolving the pending matters related to the AP Reorganization Act in a friendly atmosphere.

Telangana has recently also stressed how the impact of Polavaram backwaters could be detrimental to areas like Bhadrachalam and how it could aggravate the flood threat to the temple town during monsoon. With Naidu describing how he got the seven mandals, and how Polavaram was his priority, it remains to be seen how Revanth Reddy will protect Telangana’s interests and get the five villages back and whether he can get Naidu to minimise the backwater impact on the State.