JOIN USThe much-awaited meeting between chief ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, K Chandrasekhara Rao and Nara Chandrababu Naidu, respectively, helped iron out some of the differences that had affected the adminstration of the two states.
The two-hour meeting at Raj Bhavan on Sunday was attended by top officials and leaders from both states. The speaker of Assembly, Council chairman, state chief secretary, finance department officials and assembly secretaries from each state took part.
“We have agreed to meet to sort out differences. We have agreed that speculations in media about our intentions are not good for any state. Kamalanathan Committee and Pratyush Sinha committee were appointed by the Union government. Why can’t both states solve their problems without the Centre’s intervention,” Rao asked while speaking to media.
He agreed to hand over the Telangana Speaker’s chambers located in the Andhra Pradesh side of the Assembly to AP. Similarly, Naidu agreed to end the AP budget session by September 7 to facilitate the new state’s budget session, scheduled for September 10.
Similarly, an agreement was reached to solve amicably the issue of division of government employees at the chief-secretary level. “It is a trivial issue. The issue could be solved at the chief secretary level.” Rao noted.
Describing the meeting as fruitful, Rao said cooperation “is a must as the land-locked Telangana” might need a port to export and import goods. “We might need help of Machilipatnam port. Similarly, AP has its needs as we have common border from Alampur to Bhadrachalam,” he said.