HYDERABAD: A delegation of AP ministers, headed by deputy chief minister KE Krishnamurthy, called on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Nilayam here on Tuesday and represented to him the problems being faced by the AP government in the common capital.
They sought the President’s intervention in the matter, besides petitioning him for invocation of Section 8 of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, which empowers the governor to have control over administration of law and order in Hyderabad.
After calling on Pranab, Krishnamurthy told reporters that they had complained to the President about the alleged tapping of phones of 120 important functionaries of the state government and the ruling party by the TS government in Hyderabad.
According to him, the TS government had eavesdropped on the phones of TDP Rajya Sabha member Garikapati Ramamohana Rao and Harry Sebastian, accused in the cash-for-vote case.
“We have submitted all the evidences to the President in support of our claim,” labour minister K Atchannaidu said. Krishnamurthy brought to the notice of the President the way TS government dealt with the institutions under Schedule IX and X of the Act.
“AP government will not object if a special cell is constituted for resolving contentious issues between the two states,” he added.
According to him, they had represented to the President about the alleged unilateral decisions taken by the Telangana government on several issues including conduct of Eamcet, division of the State Council for Higher Education and the Centre for Good Governance.
The ministers said in the interests of the safety and security of people of AP residing in Hyderabad, the President should take steps to ensure implementation of Section 8 effectively.
APCC for action in cash-for-vote
Earlier in the day, a delegation of AP Congress seniors led by the APCC chief N Raghuveera Reddy called on the President and submitted a memorandum urging him to direct the Centre to implement all the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act. Accusing AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telangana counter part K Chandrasekhar Rao of using ‘cash-for-vote’ incident to settle political scores, Raghuveera urged Pranab to direct Centre to order a CBI probe under the supervision of a sitting judge of Supreme Court into the scam. Later, speaking to reporters, Raghuveera Reddy said he had also requested the President to look into the problems being faced by the farmers of the new capital region of AP.
AP Chief Secy Meets Prez
AP Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao separately met the President and brought to his notice that in the absence of a proper institutional mechanism to resolve issues in between AP and TS is leading to a lot of friction between the states. Since most of these institutions are located in Hyderabad, which as per the Reorganisation Act, has become part of Telangana, the Telangana government is taking advantage, the chief secretarysaid. “The main issue is with reference to Schedule-X Institutions. Though, the schedule as such talks about training Institutions, a number of bodies, universities have been clubbed under this and there is no clarity in the Act about the manner in which they eed to be apportioned,” he said.