Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in New Delhi on Friday. KCR reached the national capital for a three-day visit on Friday, and he is understood to have discussed various issues related to the state with the Home Minister and Jal Shakti Minister.
The Chief Minister is believed to have urged Shah to release the pending funds to the state, especially towards the relief for the recent Hyderabad floods. KCR has sought for the release of Rs 1,358 crore as immediate assistance for floods faced by the state in October. The Chief Minister has also sought funds for the state through backward areas development programme of the union government, reported The Hindu.
The Chief Minister’s meeting with Shekhawat was to seek permission to increase the lifting capacity of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project from 2 to 3 tmcft per day. KCR has also reportedly requested the Union government to ensure the height of the Polavaram project is reduced. The Telangana government is of the view that increasing the dam’s height will impact water flow in the Godavari at Bhadrachalam. KCR has also reportedly raised objections to Rayalaseema lift irrigation project of the Andhra Pradesh government, reported the paper.
KCR is also likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other ministers over the next two days. The Chief Minister's visit to Delhi came a few days after the bitter electoral fight between the TRS and the BJP for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls.
Amit Shah, who had also campaigned for the BJP in the GHMC polls, had slammed the TRS chief on various issues. BJP won 48 seats in the 150-member GHMC, reducing TRS' strength to 56 from 99.
The visit comes at a time when KCR has called for a meeting of leaders from like-minded parties in Hyderabad in the second week of December to build an alternative to the BJP and the Congress. KCR had also stated that he would lead the agitation against the BJP's anti-farmer policies and disinvestments of the public sector undertakings.