The relationship between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh is anything but cordial over the last 10 years. Unresolved issues around the division of assets and sharing of waters continue to be messy with mutual distrust coming in the way of finding a way out.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which was helming the government in Telangana for 10 years, and the Telugu Desam Party during 2014-19, and the YSRCP that headed the government during 2019-24 were not in good terms, taking a hard position in finding a solution.
That none of the issues mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 was resolved as of June 2, 2024, which marks the end of Hyderabad as a common Capital for the two States reflects the seriousness of the problem.
There, however, seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reaching out to the Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and offering to hold discussions.
Reddy wrote a letter back to Naidu on Tuesday, accepting his offer. “I am in complete agreement with your reflections. We need to resolve all pending issues,” he said in the lette. He also offered to host the meeting in Hyderabad on July 6.
Incidentally, Naidu was a mentor to Reddy during the undivided Andhra Pradesh and later acknowledged his association with the latter. Their relationship faced a hurdle in 2015 when both were booked in the note-for-vote case when they attempted to win over an MLC to their side. This episode tarnished Naidu’s image and led him to relocate the Andhra Pradesh government to Vijayawada even though it could use Hyderabad as the Capital until 2024.
Seeing no future for TDP in Telangana, Reddy joined Congress and was made the president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee. He worked hard to rally around warring factions and helped the Congress trounce the BRS.
The relationship between the two States continued to be sour, as Jagan Mohan Reddy was no friend of Congress. With his mentor extending an olive branch for holding talks, Reddy can now expect solutions for the issues.
Financial implications
Schedules 9 and 10 of the Act enumerates the list of assets (State public sector units) to be split. But the real issues would be around financial liabilities.The TDP government, during 2014-19, had put forward a demand for power dues from Telangana.
The dues now are said to touch the ₹7,000-crore mark. The then Telangana government under K Chandrashekar Rao took a hard stand, paying no heed to the demand. A TDP spokesperson recently pegged the aggregate size of assets at ₹1.42-lakh crore. The stakes are very high and it remains to be seen how Naidu and Reddy handle these sensitive issues.