Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy is proceeding to New Delhi on Monday to make a forceful plea yet again against the Congress Working Committee and the Central government decision to bifurcate the State “as it entails several insurmountable problems, particularly in the areas of river water sharing and power”.
The Chief Minister will leave for New Delhi in the morning and his meeting with the Group of Ministers headed by S.K. Shinde is scheduled for the afternoon. His earlier meeting on November 14 was postponed as Union Minister Manish Tewari wanted him to inaugurate a children’s film festival.
Mr. Reddy returned to the city after attending meetings of Rachabanda, the mass contact programme in Viasakhapatnam, Rajahmundry and Vijayawada where he publicly conveyed his dissatisfaction over the party’s decision on bifurcation.
On Sunday he is understood to have closeted with his close aides and officials preparing a detailed report to effectively put forward the case against division of the State when concerns on key areas like irrigation, power, education and others have largely remained unaddressed.
The presentation, according to sources, focuses mainly on the strategic location of irrigation projects like Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam with one branch coming under Telangana and other branch in Seemandhra region. “Water allocation can be made, but how can one divide the dams?’’ observed his close supporters.
The preparation comes amid reports that Mr. Reddy is bracing up for a showdown with the party leadership and this is evident from the way he utilised the Rachabanda as a platform to give vent to his resolve of opposing the division of the State.
Ahead of his meeting with the GoM, Mr. Reddy made his intentions clear by claiming that the Seemandhra Congress leaders will be forced to take their own decisions if the party leadership did not budge from its stand. “If the Centre is firm, we will not hesitate to take our own decisions.”
