HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh state Cabinet, which will meet in Vijayawada on Monday, is likely to focus its attention on resolving ‘caste conflicts’ in the state than spending much time on policy decisions.
According to sources, even though the agitation for inclusion of Kapus in BC category subsided for now, some of the ministers are preparing themselves to broach the issue with their boss N Chandrababu Naidu during the Cabinet meeting. The ministers might request the chief minister to take all possible precautions not to ruffle a few feathers among the BCs while going forward on Kapus issue.
With SC categorisation issue also coming to the fore for one more time and creating rift within the TDP as none other than the party’s spokesperson Dokka Manikya Vara Prasada Rao had taken on agriculture minister Prathipati Pulla Rao the other day over the same subject, the chief minister is expected to formulate a strategy during the Cabinet meeting to effectively deal with SC categorisation issue.
Besides finalising the date for laying the foundation stone for the ‘Interim Secretariat Complex’ proposed to be built at Velagapudi in the new capital region to house the Secretariat for the time being, the Cabinet is also likely to discuss the issue of selecting master developer for the construction of core capital city.
As Naidu is firm on relocating the entire Secretariat staff to the new capital by June, the state Cabinet is expected to examine the objections being raised by the Secretariat employees to relocate themselves to Amaravati region.
The employees had earlier told the government that their children would lose local status, if they are relocated to AP. Hence, they had sought local status to their children, who move to AP from Telangana, to get admissions in educational institutions and employment in the reorganised state.
Later, the state government had sent a proposal to the Centre seeking two amendments to the Presidential Order relating to education and employment tenure to do justice to the families that migrate to AP from Telangana, as per the demand of Secretariat staff. The state government is hopeful that the amendments might be passed in the ensuing budget session of the Parliament. According to sources, during the meeting, the exact dates for holding the budget session of the State Assembly, might be finalised, besides taking a call on the allocations to be made to each department in the state budget for 2016-17.
Naidu is likely to apprise his colleagues on the outcome of his recent Delhi tour during which he had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfil all unfulfilled promises made to AP during bifurcation such as special status and special financial package. As power utilities had recently sought the permission of APERC to increase electricity tariff in the state by 4 per cent for the coming financial year, the Cabinet might scrutinise this proposal at length.