Days before the much awaited announcement on Telangana, the Centre on Thursday reviewed the law and order situation in Andhra Pradesh and asked the state government to take all necessary steps to ensure peace.
Chief secretary Minnie Mathew, director general of police Dinesh Reddy and state intelligence wing chief M Mahendra Reddy met Union home secretary RK Singh and discussed the security situation.
Sources said the home ministry has promised to send additional forces to the state if required to handle any situation after the Centre’s announcement to resolve the vexed issue.
“During the meeting, they also discussed the modalities to handle both short-term and long-term repercussions of a decision either way,” sources said.
Principal secretaries M Sahoo (energy) and Aditya Nath Das (irrigation) also attended the meet.
According to sources, Singh wanted to know what would be the reaction from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema in the event of state bifurcation.
As January 28 deadline for the Centre to announce its decision on Telangana is approaching, the officials are understood to have had a thorough discussion on contentious issues and the likely reaction from the Telangana region if the Centre decides to make Hyderabad a joint capital for, say a decade, for both Andhra and Telangana states The discussion also covered the likely scenario if the government decides to look at options other than according statehood to Telangana.
The officials reportedly discussed sharing the waters of Godavari and Krishna.
Aditya Nath Das and Sahoo are understood to have given their perception of what the people of the two regions would expect while sharing the river waters and power.
The officials are expected to provide inputs to the Home ministry for taking a decision on Telangana at two-day Chintan Shivir at Jaipur beginning Friday and the one-day AICC session on January 20.
In another development, Congress Rajya Sabha member V Hanumatha Rao called on Singh and reportedly presented his argument on how it would be a win-win situation for both the Telangana and Andhra regions if the state is divided