Recently, Union Home Secretary Anil Goswamy called the chief secretaries of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana in an attempt to persuade the two states against taking a confrontational approach against each other. The Centre's intervention followed the political leaderships of the two states adding more issues to the list of rifts between them.
At the meeting, Goswamy reportedly told the chief secretaries actions in violation of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, were leading to concern. He added the two states should try and resolve their differences across the table.
It is clear such counsel will not deter AP and Telangana from being hostile towards each other. Consider this: While the Telangana government had opposed "absolute control" over the law and order machinery in the common capital region to the governor, the AP chief secretary had petitioned Goswamy to add education and municipal administration to the powers of the governor.
To address these issues, Goswamy advised both governments to stick to the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act.
In Hyderabad, ministers of the AP government on Thursday announced they would move the Supreme Court against the Telangana government's move to change the criteria for fee reimbursement to students in professional colleges in Hyderabad and other regions of the state, as students whose parents were of 'Andhra' origin would be ineligible for the fee reimbursement programmes of both state governments.
The two governments have already moved court over the timing of admission into professional colleges in the common capital region.
Not all these disputes come as a surprise, as these are the same that had led to the bifurcation of the state, analysts say. "It will be naive to think there won't be any disputes after the bifurcation, particularly on the issues of water and government jobs, the major bone of contention when the two regions coexisted in the undivided state. At least we have clarity on the status of the capital city. Punjab and Haryana are fighting over Chandigarh to this day," says K Nageshwar, political analyst and an independent member of the Telangana legislative council.
He, however, adds these disputes don't justify the unilateral actions taken by the two chief ministers.
Earlier, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had said he wouldn't hesitate in talking to his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR), as KCR wasn't new to him (KCR had earlier worked in the Naidu cabinet). Responding to his offer, KCR said he would talk to every chief minister in the country, including Naidu, if it meant achieving something meaningful.
"If the other party chooses to create an issue, I can only say the distance to your home from my home and the distance to my home from yours will be the same," he had said after a state cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Various issues and compulsions seem to be behind the tussle between the two chief ministers. It all started when the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) called for a state bandh in response to the Ordinance signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on transferring villages in seven mandals of Telangana to AP on May 29. At that time, TRS had accused the Centre of acting at Naidu's behest.
On June 8, the day the AP government was sworn in, 24 students of a Hyderabad college drowned when the waters of a hydel project were released downstream in Himachal Pradesh, where the students had gone on an excursion. Trying to outdo the Telangana government's relief efforts, Chandrababu Naidu launched a parallel operation, including sending a special flight carrying the parents of the victims to Himachal Pradesh.
Naidu was also seen as vying for equal control over Hyderabad, declared an integral part of Telangana, though being made available as the joint capital of both states for 10 years. Following the demolition of allegedly illegal structures in parts of the city, ordered by KCR, Naidu demanded the police force manning the common capital region be drawn from the two states, in addition to the governor's full control over the law and order machinery in Hyderabad.
These instances, along with the media hype that accompanied these, put the Telangana chief minister in a spot. Within a few days, newspapers reported KCR had refused to sign a file pertaining to the release of 10 tmc (thousand million cubic ft) of water from the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir for the drinking water needs of the Krishna delta region. As if in response, the AP government unilaterally cancelled the power purchase agreements signed between the AP Power Generation Corporation and distribution companies on technical grounds. AP's action denied Telangana its mandated share from AP Power Generation Corporation plants.
Following this, KCR ordered cancellation of the allotment of housing sites given years ago to government employees of Andhra origin in Hyderabad.
To ensure the release of water, the Centre had put in place a river monitoring board mechanism in the AP Reorganisation Act. However, it couldn't effectively enforce restoration of the power-sharing arrangement, part of the bifurcation process.
Observers say the situation will worsen if it is felt the Centre's role in handling the turf war between the two states is biased.
