After a decade, a thaw: CMs of Telangana, Andhra begin hard negotiations with a hug

After almost 10 years, Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh met in Hyderabad on Saturday to discuss and resolve issues pending between the two states since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in June 2014.

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and his Andhra counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu met in the evening at Jyotirao Phule Praja Bhavan in Begumpet. Reddy was accompanied by his deputy, Bhatti Vikramarka, and senior ministers D Sridhar Babu and Ponnam Prabhakar. Accompanying Naidy were ministers K Durgesh, Satya Kumar Yadav and B C Janardhan.

Both were accompanied by their respective Chief Secretaries and other IAS officers, who made powerpoint presentations on their demands and expectations from each other.

Sources in the Telangana CMO said the meeting was to break the ice between the two states. Both sides informed each other what they would like to discuss, and presented a roadmap on how that can be achieved. They also discussed issues where the Centre’s intervention is required, like division of water of Godavari and Krishna rivers.

The discussion was mainly about setting up a platform and a channel for both governments to discuss issues without acrimony, an official said, adding, “This meeting is to initiate the process of long discussions and negotiations.”

According to officials present at the meeting, the two chief ministers met as old friends, hugging each other before they sat down on the negotiating table.

“Be it Telanagna or Andhra Pradesh, if one state agrees to concede on any issue, there would be immediate criticism that the state’s interest has been ignored. This is the reason Jagan (former Andhra CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy) and KCR (former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao) could not take their talks forward. The