)
Chief minister-designate of Telangana and president of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, K Chandrasekhara Rao, has called for a bandh on Thursday in protest against the reported move of the Centre to issue an ordinance for transferring seven mandals of Khammam district to the residual Andhra Pradesh (AP).
Rao said he had indications that the Union government would come out with an ordinance, which would pave the way for the transfer of 136 villages and 211 hamlets of seven mandals to residual AP so that there would not be any hurdles in executing the Polavaram irrigation project.
A large number of villages and hamlets are likely to be submerged under the Polavaram project, which had been accorded national status and would be executed by the Centre.
The TRS chief said he was not opposed to the construction of the project but wanted to change its design for reducing the area of submergence.
