KCR’s 1st Meeting With Modi Today

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union Ministers in New Delhi tomorrow with a list of demands, which include special economic incentives for the new state. It would be Rao’s maiden visit to the national capital after taking over as the first Chief Minister of Telangana.

Other demands include national project status for Pranahita-Chevella lift irrigation scheme and the Palamuru lift irrigation scheme and scrapping of the merger of seven mandals in Bhadrachalam division — which would be affected by the Polavaram irrigation project — with Andhra Pradesh, TRS sources said in Hyderabad.

TRS, the ruling party, is opposed to the merger of these areas with Andhra Pradesh.

The Chief Minister is also expected to seek special economic incentives for Telangana, on par with the ones which Andhra Pradesh is likely to get.

He would also request the Prime Minister to extend maximum Central assistance for large-scale infrastructure projects and the railway projects in the newly formed state, sources said.

A request for additional electricity and allocation of coal for thermal power stations would also be made.

Meanwhile, Telangana government has appointed former Union Minister S Venugopalachari and former bureaucrat T Ramachandru as its special representatives in New Delhi. Both will enjoy the status of a state cabinet minister, according to an order issued by the government.

- PTI