The Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on Friday began talks on a wide-range of inter-state issues arising out of Andhra Pradesh's bifurcation five years ago.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy held the talks at Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of the former in Hyderabad.
Though KCR and Jagan have met several times since the latter formed the government in Andhra Pradesh a month ago, this is the first full-fledged talks between them to sort out inter-state issues.
Both the leaders have already agreed to solve all the outstanding issues amicably and foster good neighbourly relations for the welfare of the people of both the states.
Sharing of water from Krishna and Godavari rivers were the main item on the agenda of the high-level talks. They are likely to discuss the dispute over sharing of Krishna water and the possibility of diverting the Godavari waters to Krishna basin. As there is a demand to diverting Godavari waters to the Srisailam project in order to serve the irrigation needs of Andhra's Rayalaseema region, the state might seek the Telangana government's opinion on the same.
The issues arising out of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh have remained unresolved for last five years due to differences between Chandrasekhar Rao and his then counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Dispute over dues of power utilities, distribution of employees and assets of electricity department will also feature in the talks.
Officials said the two leaders might also discuss distribution of assets of institutions listed in Scheduled IX and X of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014. This includes Central institutes and Public Sector Units (PSUs).
The issue of the ownership of Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi is also likely to come up.
IANS inputs