Crucial Telangana meet on sharing assets today

Detailed report to be ready by November 7 before GoM meets

Top bureaucrats from Andhra Pradesh and the Central government will hold their maiden meeting on Friday to kick-start talks on the proposed bifurcation of assets and resources for the physical creation of th new state of Telangana.

A battery of secretary-level Andhra officials are flying to the national capital for the meeting as a detailed report on segregation of assets has to be prepared by November 7, when the Group of Ministers working out the nitty-gritty of the bifurcation is scheduled to hold its third meeting here. 

It is learnt that Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission chairman and secretary have already arrived with the broad contours for division of the bureaucracy to form a separate cadre and work force to administer the proposed Telangana state. 

The two governments of the divided state have to prepare a blueprint for sharing of river water, power and sharing of other assets equitably, besides demarcation of boundary. Persuasion tactics

The government is also contemplating offering sops, including institutes of academic excellence such as an IIT 

and an airport to calm the agitating people of Seemandhra region.

In a related development, Congress President Sonia Gandhi met President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday and is learnt to have discussed the Telangana issue with him.

Mukherjee, while being a part of the central cabinet in the past, was opposed to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh state and, according to his aides, still holds that view.

A group of 40 leaders from Seemandhra region, including ministers in the state government, MLAs, MLCs and MPs, also met the President as part of a last-ditch effort to stall the bifurcation of the state.

“We have told the President that the actions of the Central Government were in violation of the Constitution,” S Sailajanath, a minister in the Andhra Pradesh government, said after meeting the President.

They claimed that the Centre was not taking the leaders from coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema regions into confidence while going ahead with the process of carving out a separate Telangana.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan on Wednesday held meetings with the President, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh.