Drop Ordinance move: KCR

Warns Modi Govt against merger of 7 mandals in Khammam district with AP

New Delhi: Telangana Chief Minister-Designate K Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday asked the Modi Government to drop its proposed move for promulgating an Ordinance on the merger of 7 mandals in Khammam district in Telangana with Andhra Pradesh. If wiser counsels did not dawn on the Modi Government and if it persisted with its move to bring the proposed Ordinance, he warned that he would oppose it tooth and nail and even challenge it in the Supreme Court.

The Union Cabinet did not take up the issue on Tuesday but the issue might figure in the Cabinet meeting, which had been scheduled for Wednesday. Addressing media persons, Chandrashekhar Rao said he had informed those close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to desist from the move to bring the Ordinance, which was undemocratic and would not be digested by the people of Telangana. He said he received an assurance that the Ordinance would not be brought to the Cabinet.

Rao said he had learnt from the Ministry of Home Affairs about the move of the new government to promulgate an Ordinance for transferring 7 Mandals in Khammam district in Telangana with Andhra Pradesh. He regretted that there was no representative from Telangana in the Union Cabinet.

Chandrashekhar Rao insisted that he was not against Andhra Pradesh’s claim to utilize the waters. What he opposed was the move to construct the Polavaram project there, as according to experts, the area was in the seismically-sensitive zone and storing water there could be dangerous.

There is no issue with regard to the quantity of water that Andhra Pradesh wants to utilise but the issue is about the design and height of the Polavaram Project. He wanted the design changed, height and submergence areas reduced and to save the tribals, who would be displaced as a result of the Polavaram Project.