Hyderabad: Union Ministers P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju and M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday that the Narendra Modi government had not taken any new decision regarding the Polavaram project and it was the previous UPA government’s decision that was being implemented.
Speaking to the media separately in Delhi, they said that the UPA government had prepared the ordinance regarding inclusion of some villages in Khammam district – which would be submerged under Polavaram Project – in Seemandhra along with the Telangana Bill.
They said that the ordinance had not been issued by the UPA government because of the election code and the NDA government had now decided to implement the previous government’s decision on Polavaram and issued the ordinance. Both ministers said that there was no controversy regarding the Polavaram project.
Mr Raju pointed out that if the project and the villages that would be submerged were in one state, then the construction of the project would go smoothly. To a question he said that if the union government were to discuss the issue with the chief minister designates of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, it would take some time and that’s why the Union government had decided to go head with issuing the ordinance.
He added that with the construction of the Polavaram Project, equal justice would be done. He also said that the special status to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh had to be extended to 15 years from five years. Mr Venkaiah Naidu, meanwhile, said that the Union government would do justice to both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He added that though the villages in question were now in Telangana, before 1956 they were in the Seemandhra region.
He said that the NDA government had only implemented the decision of the UPA government regarding the Polavaram Project and it would not be fair to accuse the NDA government.
Mr Naidu also said that during the bifurcation controversy, he had taken the initiative to keep Bhadrachalam town in Telangana region. He said that all political parties had accepted the construction of Polavaram Project and added that there was no controversy regarding special status for Andhra Pradesh.
