Hyderabad: Within 24 hours both Telugu Chief Ministers, K Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy of Andhra Pradesh, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Rao left on Thursday for a four-day visit, and will meet Mr Modi on Friday. Jagan will meet the PM on Saturday.
Both CMs have a common agenda. Mr Modi is advocating the linking of rivers across the country for some time, so they are likely to ask for central assistance to link the Godavari and Krishna rivers. This will benefit both Telugu states. The two Chief Ministers discussed this issue twice before deciding to go ahead with the river-linking.
Both states face a financial crunch and will ask Mr Modi to be liberal with funds to their states under various schemes. A near-recession has caused the Central government to reduce disbursal to the states.
Several issues are pending with the Central government, including assurances given to both the states under the AP Reorganisation Act. Both the Chief Ministers will ask Mr Modi to resolve these issues at the earliest.
Mr Rao will also ask the Prime Minister to grant national status to the Kaleshwaram or Palamuru–Rangareddy irrigation projects, and release funds under the backward areas development schemes.
The AP government will launch the YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme on October 15. It will give `12,500 annually to each farmer as investment. The Central government gives `6,000 to each farmer in a similar scheme. Mr Reddy will ask Mr Modi to increase the funds to it; he will rename it as YSR-Modi Rythu Bharosa. Jagan will tell Modi about how reverse tendering saved `800 crore in the Polavaram works. He will mention the Power Purchase agreements (PPAs) issue as well.
Both the Chief Ministers may meet in Delhi. After meeting Mr Modi, they will exchange notes.
