Governor to hold key on UT status - TeluguPeople.com News

New Delhi: If the Centre has its way, Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan is all set to play a crucial role in controlling administration and law and order in Hyderabad in the post-bifurcation period when it will be a joint capital for Telangana and residuary State of Andhra Pradesh.

Narasimhan on Wednesday had a hectic schedule, holding a string of meetings with the UPA leaders and apprising them of the prevailing situation in the State going through turbulent times. Besides the law and order situation, the future of Hyderabad reportedly figured prominently in the talks.

The Governor's meetings started with a discussion on the current situation with Finance Minister P Chidambaram. This was followed by back-to-back meetings with Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Later, he went to Rashtrapati Bhawan to apprise President Pranab Mukherjee of the recent developments.

The Governor was summoned to Delhi for consultations before the crucial phase begins for the creation of Telangana. He also met AICC in-charge for Andhra affairs Digvijay Singh.

Sources said that the UPA leadership was toying with the idea of making Narasimhan the Governor of both Telangana and Seemandhra States. Since it was decided that Hyderabad should be made a joint capital for a period of 10 years and with Narasimhan being the Governor of both the States, he would be asked to handle the administration and law and order machinery during this period.

Narasimhan briefed Sonia and Digvijay Singh about the ground situation vis-a-vis the bifurcation while his discussions with the Home Minister were mainly focussed on the current law and order situation and the concerns about law and order in case of bifurcation.

The future of Hyderabad is turning out to be a major sticking point for the Centre. It has the options of declaring Hyderabad a Union Territory or work out a unique mechanism whereby the city would be administered directly by the Centre. In fact, the Central leaders were keen on learning from the Governor the best policy to be adopted with regard to the status of Hyderabad.

According to sources, the Governor is in favour of making Hyderabad a Union Territory as it might soothe the ruffled feelings of a majority of the Seemandhra leaders and people and thus help in the smooth formation of a Telangana State. However, the Congress top brass has clearly indicated that declaring Hyderabad a UT is not a likely option, as it would have serious repercussions in the Telangana region.

The Governor's meetings with Shinde and Chidambaram are significant as both the Central ministers are part of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telangana which has been mandated to work out the modalities of bifurcation.

The GoM, which had held two meetings, will begin its crucial exercise of working out the details from its next meeting on November 7 when the various State and Central ministers as well as the common public would submit its final feedback.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Secretary has convened a meeting of secretaries of various ministries on October 25. At least 10 secretaries from Finance, Petroleum, HRD, Personnel, Water Resources, Power, Legal, Health and Home Ministries, besides a representative from the Planning Commission are participating in the meeting. The secretaries from the state departments concerned will also take part in the meeting.