No More New Assembly Seats In Telangana And AP; Centre Not For Delimitation Now 

Hyderabad: In a setback to the ruling parties in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the Centre has indicated that it was not in favor of introducing a fresh delimitation Bill to increase the number of Assembly seats in the two states.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao himself disclosed this on Wednesday after his 20-minute one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament House.

KCR told newsmen after the meeting: “Delimitation Bill was not on top of the agenda for me. I made a mention at the end of the meeting, but the BJP is not in favor of increasing the number of Assembly seats. The PM told me it is not happening. If they hike the number of Assembly seats I will be happy, if they don’t, nothing will happen to me. I am only interested in the developmental issues in the state.”

He added, “In case AP exerts pressure and gets the seat hike, we will also get it, but I am not particular about the issue.”

KCR said that the PM has agreed to attend the Global Investors Summit to be held in November in Hyderabad. The schedule is yet to be finalized.

“We are expecting the participation of Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President in the summit. It’s going to be a major event. The major initiative will be from the US,” he said.

The PM and finance minister Arun Jaitley have agreed to transfer defence lands to the TS government soon for construction of flyovers under the Strategic Road Development Programme, he said.

On the transfer of Bison Polo Ground land to the TS government for constructing of the proposed Secretariat building complex, the CM said more than the Secretariat he wants defence lands for the SRDP works as traffic jams have become the order of the day in Secunderabad.

“Modi assured me that he will personally take up the issue and ensure transfer of defence lands is done immediately,” KCR said.

In his meeting with Union finance and defence minister Arun Jaitley, the CM requested him to issue orders enhancing the borrowing limit of TS from 3 percent under Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act to 3.5 percent.

He brought to the notice of the finance minister that the Centre has already announced the enhancement but related orders were not released yet.

The CM also requested the Centre to release the pending Rs450 crore dues to the state under the Backward Areas Development Fund.