As the Centre is likely to announce its final view on the Telangana issue post-Deepavali, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy discussed the subject with Congress president Sonia Gandhi here on Saturday and hinted that an amicable solution to the vexatious problem might be out soon.
Mr. Reddy who was here to attend the National Development Council meeting, however, refused to give details of his discussions with Ms. Gandhi, saying, “It is not necessary that everything be disclosed to the media.”
‘No ambiguity'
On the allegations regarding tender finalisation for the Polavaram project, he said only the technical and financial bids had been over and that too subject to the vetting by an experts committee. There was no ambiguity in the selection of the bid and in fact the State government might save Rs.600 crore in the selection of a particular lowest bid, 12.1 per cent less than the nearest one, he said.
The Polavaram project, which would interlink Godavari and Krishna rivers, would be a boon to Telangana and Rayalaseema regions as 2000 tmcft of water which was going waste into the sea would be utilised, Mr. Reddy said.
It may be recalled that the TDP Telangana Forum had recently accused TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao of ‘doing business' with the Telangana agitation by getting the Polavaram project tender finalised in his benami company name in return for calling off the mass general strike (Sakala Janula Samme).
The TDP claimed that Mr. Rao had pledged the Telangana agitation for lapping up the tender of the Polavaram project.
“The tender was finalised in the name of SEW Infrastructure which was a major stakeholder in Namaste Telangana daily, a newspaper owned pro-Telangana by KCR men,” TDP legislator Revanth Reddy had alleged, which was strongly denied by the TRS.
