The marathon six-hour meeting between Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao has generated a lot of curiosity among the media persons as well as the common people of both the states.
But the official statement that came out from the Telangana chief minister’s office after Jagan had left for Vijayawada dampened their enthusiasm.
If one would compare the statement given by the same CMO after the meeting of the two chief ministers on September 23 last year, there is absolutely no difference.
The joint Godavari-Krishna linkage plan, pending issues under 9th and 10th schedule of the AP Reorganisation Act and others were discussed in the previous meeting also and the outcome was nothing.
In fact, after the September meeting, there were reports from Andhra CMO that Jagan has decided to go ahead with his own Godavari-Krishna linkage plan from Polavaram to Banakacharla and the Detailed Project Report is also said to be under final stages of preparation. It was mentioned even in G N Rao committee report as well as BCG report.
At the same time, there were also reports from Telangana CMO that KCR, too, had suggested an alternative plan to divert Godavari waters to Krishna ayacut under Nagarjunasagar left canal. Similarly, the pending issues under the bifurcation act were discussed several times and there was nothing new about them.
So, it was obvious that KCR and Jagan had discussed on something else; not these routine issues, which are mentioned in the official statement only to mislead the media.
Apparently, Jagan is learnt to have explained his blue print for his plan for shifting of administrative capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam and sought KCR’s suggestions to tackle the agitation by farmers of Amaravati.
The Telangana chief minister reportedly advised Jagan to go ahead with his plan and act tough with Amaravati farmers. He told the Andhra CM that the agitation would fizzle out on its own, if the government comes out with attractive plan.
The meeting could have naturally discussed the national political scenario. It is learnt KCR had advised Jagan not to fall into the trap of Bharatiya Janata Party and appease the Delhi bosses, but to adopt an independent line of action. He reportedly told Jagan that the BJP wave has gradually been on the decline; and so, it is better to keep away from it.
Because of its strategic importance, Jagan-KCR meet has naturally become the lead story for the major Telugu newspapers.
While Andhra Jyothy, in its banner story, focused on the two chief ministers’ plan to work together and emerge as a strong regional force against the BJP, Eenadu and Sakshi confined to the official press release from the Telangana CMO, pertaining to Godavari-Krishna river water sharing and other issues.
The Andhra Pradesh high court’s judgement against the alleged highhanded behavior of the police against the agitating womenfolk of Amaravati was the lead story in Andhra Jyothy and Eenadu. The high court had obviously gone by the media reports and video clippings submitted by the advocates.
Sakshi, however, ignored the same on the front page, but sought to project the rallies in support of three capitals plan. Interestingly, Andhra Jyothy carried an anchor story only to counter Sakshi’s arguments on Amaravati being unfit for the capital city.
The continued agitations by Amaravati farmers and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu’s demand for a referendum on the capital also figured prominently in the anti-establishment Telugu dailies.