TS, AP continue to lock horns over AP Bhavan

New Delhi: The crucial meeting organised by the Union Home ministry with the top officials of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State governments on the division of AP Bhavan failed to arrive at any decision on Wednesday.

While the officials of Andhra Pradesh government reiterated that the Centre adhered to the AP State Reorganisation Act which says that the division of the 20-acre land be divided in the ratio of 58:42 between AP and Telangana, the TS government insisted that entire land and buildings be handed over to the state. Their argument was that the AP Bhavan does not fall under the purview of the AP State Reorganisation Act 2014. They also said the property was allotted to the State in lieu of the Hyderabad House which was Nizam's property. If the 58:42 formula is applied, TS would get only 8.41 acres of land.

Hence, TS officials informed the Centre that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had in the past written letters demanding that the entire land where AP and TS Bhavans are now located be considered as the property of TS and transfer it.

The officials of AP rejected the argument of the Telangana government and said that the demand was illogical and against the spirit of the reorganization act. Efforts by central government officers to convince the TS did not fructify. Among those who attended the meeting were Telangana State Finance Secretary K Ramakrishna Rao and his AP counterparts SS Rawat and Prem Chandra Reddy. The meeting was presided over by Joint Secretary to the Union Home ministry Parthasarathi in New Delhi.