CM skips NITI meet, busy with project inauguration on June 21

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao did not attend the NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi Saturday as he is understood to be busy with preparations for the inauguration of the Rs 80,000 crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project on June 21. Rao travelled to Mumbai Friday and invited his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis for the inauguration.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy would also be invited, a release from the chief minister office had earlier said. TRS sources said Rao could not attend the NITI Aayog meeting as he was busy with the Kaleswaram inauguration with a series of meetings lined up. He had attended the NITI Aayog meetings earlier, they said.

The Kaleswaram project across the Godavari river, which flows through Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, aims at meeting drinking water requirements of about 80 per cent of districts in the state, besides the farm sector and industries. The foundation stone for the project was laid on May 2, 2016 by Rao. A meeting of the Telangana cabinet, chaired by Rao, would be held on June 18. On June 19, Rao, the president of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi would preside over the TRS state executive, a TRS release said.

TRS sources said the state executive was likely to discuss the recent Lok Sabha election results and the programmes to be taken up by the party in the next few months. The sources dismissed speculation that the state cabinet is likely to be expanded after June 19. The Kaleswaram inauguaration is scheduled for June 21, they pointed out.

Asked about Congress MP A Revanth Reddy appealing to the government not to demolish the existing Secretariat buildings--with Andhra Pradesh government set to hand over the Secretariat buildings in its possession--the sources indicated that no decision had been taken as the AP government was yet to communicate its plans on the matter.