For the last few weeks, the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments have been indulging in a bitter war of words over sharing of Krishna river waters and writing letters to the Centre complaining against each other.
As the issue is snowballing into a major controversy, pressure is mounting on both the chief ministers of the Telugu states – Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and K Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana to resolve the disputes.
The opposition parties in both the states have been questioning the two chief ministers as to why they have not come on the negotiation table and resolve the dispute amicably, since both had displayed friendly relations in the past.
Even Jagan’s sister Y S Sharmila, who launched a new political party in Telangana on Thursday questioned why KCR and Jagan, who had time to dine together and share sweets, besides fighting together against the common enemy (read TDP), were not able to spare five minutes to sit together and put an end to the Krishna water dispute.
But in the given circumstances, one wonders whether KCR and Jagan would ever have a meeting and discuss the water issues.
In fact, Jagan is more liberal in this regard and extended a friendly hand to his Telangana counterpart, saying he wants to resolve the disputes through talks.
But Jagan did not make any such attempt in that direction, like speaking to KCR over phone or writing a letter to the latter requesting for negotiations.
On the other hand, KCR did not respond to Jagan’s open statement for talks nor did he take any initiative to talk to Jagan.
Instead, both Jagan and KCR have been making all sorts of allegations against each other in their letters to the Centre.
This makes people wonder whether the Krishna water dispute will ever end at all.
There is a talk that KCR will not utter a word with regard to talks with Jagan till the by-elections to Huzurabad assembly seat are held in September or October, as the TRS chief wants to exploit the Telangana sentiment to the hilt during the campaigning.
“Maybe, once the elections are over, KCR may respond positively to the talks with Jagan. Till such time, everybody has to sit with his or her fingers crossed,” a political analyst said.