Telangana and Andhra should settle pending bilateral issues amicably: Union Min
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai on Tuesday said in the Lok Sabha that Telangana and Andhra Pradesh should settle their outstanding bilateral issues "amicably." During the Question Hour, Rai said many provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 have been implemented, while the rest are in various stages of implementation.
Through the legislation, the state of Andhra Pradesh was divided into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
"...there are some outstanding bilateral issues between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana which should be settled by both states amicably," he said.
Rai was replying to a query of TDP member K Ram Mohan Naidu on the implementation of assurances made to the state of Andhra Pradesh under the legislation.
Both Telangana and Andhra are embroiled in conflict over pending issues and the sharing of Krishna and Godavari waters. Earlier in 2020, a major row broke between the Telugu states, with the Telangana government alleging that Andhra’s initiation of construction projects on the Krishna river was detrimental to the interests of Telangana and its agriculture sector. With the Telangana CM calling the AP governments' move unilateral, the cordial relations between the both states have been strained, halting mutual efforts to find amicable resolutions.
The minister said the Union Finance Ministry provided a special package to Andhra Pradesh, which suffered due to the carving out of Telangana.
Responding to the demand by YSRCP member P V Midhun Reddy for according special category state status to Andhra Pradesh, Rai said such a provision does not exist after the Centre accepted the recommendation of the Fourteenth Finance Commission.
The Special Category Status (SCS) demand for the state of Andhra as per the resolution made by the Union government in Parliament in 2014 on March 2. The ruling YSRCP and TDP used to blame each other for not achieving the SCS and other provisions guaranteed to the state under AP State Reorganisation Act .
With PTI inputs