Maiden meeting between Naidu and Revanth evokes curiosity

Responding positively, Revanth Reddy said an in-person meeting was necessary to help a build a strong foundation for mutual cooperation.

Hyderabad: The maiden meeting between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday is evoking a lot of curiosity in the political circles. On Monday, Chandrababu Naidu had written to his counterpart over the need for a face-to-face meeting to resolve the pending bifurcation issues.

Responding positively, Revanth Reddy on Tuesday said an in-person meeting was necessary to help a build a strong foundation for mutual cooperation.

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However, there are many issues that need to be addressed by the two Chief Ministers. To begin with, the River Krishna water sharing issue has been since long and the merger of five villages under Bhadrachalam mandal back with Telangana has been a contentious one.

Both the States have a difference of opinion over the division of institutions and corporations listed under schedule IX and X. The division of assets pertaining to RTC, housing board, Vijaya Dairy and other corporations under schedule IX has been pending for a long time. Similar is the case with bifurcation of assets of Telugu Academy, Telugu university, higher education council, BR Ambedkar Open University and 32 other institutions.

Meanwhile, welcoming the proposed meeting between the two Chief Ministers, the CPI (M) State unit wanted the merger of Purushothapatnam, Gundala, Pichukulapadu, Etapaka and Kannaigudem under Bhadrachalam back into Telangana. CPI (M) also listed out other issues that have been pending since long.

The union government had delayed the establishment of River Management Boards over River Krishna and River Godavari. To monitor the performance of these two boards, the union government should appoint an Advisory Council and the union Jal Shakthi Minister should be the Chairman and the two Chief Ministers should be the Members of the council.

All the issues should be resolved with mutual consent, CPI (M) State secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said in a statement issued here on Thursday.