Many assume that two Chief Ministers of neighboring states can sit together to resolve all the issues between their two states. But that is practically not possible. Their powers are limited, even though they are Chief Ministers of their respective states.
We are talking about Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who sat together in a meeting to resolve the issues between both states that have been pending ever since the bifurcation.
Looking into the issues, there are many. For example, the clearance of electricity bills is an issue. Andhra Pradesh says that Telangana should pay thousands of crores of rupees of pending electricity bills, but Telangana links this payment to the resolution of other issues.
Adding to this, the Polavaram project is a bigger issue. Telangana demands its mandals, which are under threat of inundation. Can Chandrababu resolve this?
It is very expensive now to relocate the people from the inundated places. But still, AP giving those mandals to Telangana is next to impossible. It looks like a Herculean task to build Polavaram in this scenario.
There are comments suggesting that the first phase of Polavaram, which involves relocating the people from inundated places, may happen to the maximum extent, but nothing further in the next few years. Because, all these issues need a lot of coordination, cooperation and mutual satisfaction between the people and leaders of both states, apart from huge financial muscle.
No one knows how far the central government will come forward to invest, as it had already commented earlier that both Chandrababu and Jagan Mohan Reddy have diverted the funds allocated to Polavaram to other expenses in their respective governments.
Anmidst all this, if either Revanth Reddy or Chandrababu Naidu plays a soft role in the process of addressing any of these issues, they would face backlash in their own states from the people. So, though they are friends outside, their freedom and decision-making powers are limited.
Moreover, the issues related to Krishna and Godavari waters can be addressed by a tribunal but not by the Chief Ministers.
Some leaders from AP are demanding a share in the revenue of Hyderabad, while some leaders in Telangana are asking for a share in the key seaports of Andhra Pradesh and also some share in TTD. Can these unreasonable and impractical demands be addressed at all?
Not knowing all this, some media sources are reporting as if all issues between Telangana and AP will be solved as both the Chief Ministers are friends.