K Chandrasekhar Rao, Jagan Mohan to jointly fight for demands of Telangana and AP

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister-designate Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy reportedly told Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao that with the YSR Congress’s 22 seats and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti’s nine, they could together fight with the Centre to grant their demands.

Talking to the media on Sunday, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy categorically stated that the Chief Ministers of both Telugu states have decided to work together to get the pending demands of the states addressed.

According to sources in the TRS and YSR Congress, Mr Rao and Mr Reddy during their discussions on Saturday at Pragathi Bhavan agreed that both Telugu states have suffered because of the confrontationist approach of the Telugu Desam.

Several issues including the distribution of employees, assets and liabilities of institutions that are listed as common institutions in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, have to be resolved.

Sources revealed that when Mr Rao raised the issue of sharing of Krishna and Godavari waters and construction of irrigation projects in both states for optimum utilisation of the waters of the two rivers, Mr Reddy responded positively and said that the officers of both states should sit together and work out an amicable strategy to share the waters.

Sources said that Mr Rao also reiterated that he was prepared to write a letter to the Centre requesting it to grant special status to AP whenever Mr Reddy wants.

After the hour-long discussion between the two leaders, the cadre of the two parties are hopeful that in the coming days both leaders will run affairs on the basis of give and take.

Sources disclosed that the anti campaign carried out by Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, projecting Mr Rao and Mr Reddy as betrayers of Telugu pride, carried no weight with the people.

If cordial relations are established between the CMs of the two states, it will be possible for both states to withdraw the cases pending before the High Courts of both states and the Supreme Court with regard to distribution of employees, assets, and also against the Polavaram project and settle the issues through dialogue.