HYDERABAD: It was because of the politically-influenced confrontational policy adopted by the BRS government with the Andhra Pradesh government between 2014 and 2019 and with the BJP government at the Centre from 2019 to 2024, Telangana had failed to get the benefits promised under AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 even ten years after bifurcation.
The new Congress government hopes to resolve all bifurcation related issues in the next five years by adopting cordial relations with the new governments in AP and at the Centre that take over after general elections results on June 4.
Former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao went in for political confrontation with his AP counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu soon after bifurcation in 2014, due to which none of the major bifurcation-related issues could be resolved from 2014 to 2019. Later, Rao adopted a similar strategy with the NDA government at the Centre after the BJP emerged as a political threat in Telangana and after Rao decided to expand his party to the national level by renaming TRS as BRS.
Rao did not meet Naidu to discuss and resolve bifurcation related issues. Rao even avoided meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi since September 2021. With this, the Centre too did not initiate steps to resolve pending bifurcation issues concerning Telangana.
It was Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2023 soon after the Congress government came to power. In fact, Reddy also participated in Modi's official programme in Adilabad in March where the PM launched several development programmes.
The cordial relations maintained by Reddy with the Centre paid off as it approved several long-pending projects concerning Telangana. The main one being handing over defence land in the Secunderabad Cantonment to the state government to undertake construction of flyovers to ease traffic congestion, which has turned a nightmare for motorists for decades. The Centre also expedited approvals for the long pending Hyderabad Regional Ring Road (RRR) project.
The major achievement was resolving the contentious bifurcation issue between TG and AP on the issue of division of AP Bhavan in New Delhi, which was lying pending for ten years. The Centre achieved a consensus between AP and TG on AP Bhavan division on March 16 after Revanth took over. The Centre divided AP Bhavan assets between TG and AP.
The Revanth government now hopes to resolve pending bifurcation issues by maintaining similar cordial relations with the AP government and central government after Lok Sabha results on June 4.
The division of various institutions and corporations, listed in Schedule 9 and Schedule 10 of the AP Reorganisation Act, between the two states, has not been completed as there was no consensus over several issues. Around 89 government companies and corporations are listed in the Ninth Schedule. They include state-run companies and corporations like Andhra Pradesh State Seeds Development Corporation, Andhra Pradesh State Agro Industrial Development Corporation and Andhra Pradesh State Warehousing Corporation.
The 10th Schedule of the Act includes 107 training institutions/centres like AP State Co-operative Union, Environment Protection Training and Research Institute, AP Forest Academy, Centre for Good Governance and the Andhra Pradesh Police Academy.
Though an expert committee headed by retired bureaucrat Sheela Bhide gave recommendations on bifurcation of Schedule IX and X institutions, the matter remained unresolved. The two states have also been caught in a row over payment of dues for supply of power post-bifurcation.
Transfer of employees is one of the issues, which is waiting for a final resolution. The TNGO union submitted a memorandum to the TG government on May 18, urging for bringing back the leftover 144 Telangana employees allotted to AP. They have been working in AP since 2014.
Another example is the disagreement between the two states over assets of the state-run road transport corporation (RTC). AP sought a share in the assets of the corporation located in Hyderabad, which TSRTC has denied. It feels that these assets belong to it as per the definition of 'headquarters' given by the Bhide panel.
Revanth Reddy had instructed officials to settle amicably the pending transfer and repatriation of employees to Andhra Pradesh. He had told the officials to resolve the issues where there is reconciliation between the two states and to act in such a way that the interests of Telangana are protected as regards other pending matters.
The Revanth Reddy government had proposed to conduct a meeting of the state cabinet on May 18 to discuss the pending bifurcation issues between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and other related matters.
However, this did not transpire as the Election Commission of India (ECI) refused approval citing the election code. These matters will be discussed in the next cabinet meeting after the general election results are declared.
