Telangana CM KCR’s Visit To Delhi Maybe On June 6 & 7

Telangana CM KCR’s office is in touch with PMO for an appointment between KCR and PM Modi on either June 6 or 7. KCR plans to be in Delhi those 2 days to meet the PM, his cabinet ministers and other national leaders in NDA and Congress. While this is supposed to be a courtesy visit and to invite the Prime Minister for the official State Formation celebrations, likely to be held later this month on a grand scale, certain critical issues like Polavaram, Special Category status & consultative mechanism between Telangana and Andhra for bifurcation issues inevitably landed on his discussion list. Persuading the Centre to declare the Pranahita-Chevella lift-irrigation project as a national project is also high on his agenda. The visit is scheduled just before the maiden assembly session of Telangana which could keep KCR and his cabinet busy with administrative matters.

Despite the chill in relations between TRS and BJP post the Polavaram misadventure of the latter, both the State and Centre are moving towards a working relationship between centre and state. Newly elected TRS Lok Sabha leader AP Jitender Reddy said their priority would be to work closely with national leadership for Telangana’s needs and goals. He said that while Telangana Govt. won’t take any confrontational stand, it wont compromise too on it’s interests. “In the previous Lok Sabha, there were only two TRS MPs, but still KCR was able to voice the concerns of Telangana in the House and achieved statehood for the region. Now, we are eleven and we will battle it out to ensure that the ordinance is withdrawn. We will not allow the Lok Sabha to function,” Jitender Reddy said.

KCR’s visit could set the tone for ties in immediate future with regard to centre-state relations. This is especially so with Polavaram issue. Telangana insists on a design change and withdrawal of the ordinance. If Modi and KCR doesn’t reach a middle ground, TRS is ready to take the legal route to challenge the ordinance itself, which stands on shaky grounds. An unfavorable judgement means Modi’s Govt has to introduce a Telangana Reorganization Bill and do an elaborate exercise to get Polavaram moving. Telangana Govt. seems to explore the dialog option before going to courts and this visit would be critical