KCR to seek Special Package for Telangana

HYDERABAD: Chief ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, K Chandrasekhar Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu, will be attending the high-profile marriage reception of BJP president Amit Shah's son Jay Shah in Delhi.

During their visit to national capital, the two chief ministers are expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi separately so as to seek more funds and projects to their states in the ensuing Union Budget for the coming financial year.

While Naidu fixed an appointment with the Prime Minister at 6.45 p.m. on Sunday, Rao is expected to meet Modi on Monday. The meetings of Naidu and Rao with the Prime Minister assume significance as there are several unresolved issues between the two Telugu states.

As issues such as sharing of river waters and power, bifurcation of Central government institutions, which are in Schedule X of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, and also those which are not in it, have become a bone of contention between the sibling states, the Prime Minister is expected to give advice to the two chief ministers during his one-on-one with Naidu as well as Rao.

According to sources, Rao is likely to urge the Prime Minister to announce a special package for Telangana as promised in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. Many issues including power and water sharing between Telangana and AP are expected to come up during the meeting.

Besides requesting the Prime Minister to accord national status to Pranhita-Chevella Lift Irrigation Project, Rao is also likely to request Modi to expedite the bifurcation of the High Court. The Telangana chief minister is scheduled to leave for Mumbai on February 16 to meet his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis to discuss issues relating to interstate irrigation projects between the two states.

When Naidu meets Modi on Sunday, he is expected to once again request the Prime Minister to consider the issue of according 'Special Category Status' to the reorganised State, which is, according to Naidu, passing through a grave financial crisis.

As Naidu had already openly said that he was not satisfied with the recent `850 crore financial package announced by the Centre to cash-starved AP, during his meeting with the Prime Minister, Naidu is expected to plead with Modi to release some more funds to the State to bridge the gap between revenue and expenditure of the State.

Since the Central government already rejected the State government's plea for the release of `20,000 crore for the construction of the new capital city, Naidu is likely to once again try to convince the Prime Minister to grant generous financial aid to the State to undertake construction works of the new capital.

Besides this, Naidu for one more time is likely to request the Prime Minister to grant funds for the construction of the Polavaram Irrigation Project. He is expected to request Modi to announce more incentives for the investors who come forward to set up industries in AP in the Union Budget for 2015-16.