Centre says ‘no’ to delimitation plea

CM dodges Bison Polo Ground issue, says PM agreed to help in transfer of defence lands for SRDP flyovers

In a setback to the ruling parties in TS and AP, the Centre has indicated that it was not in favour of introducing a fresh delimitation Bill to increase the number of Assembly seats in the two states.

This was disclosed by TS Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday after his 20minute one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament House.

Mr Rao 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 favour of hiking 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 concerning 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.”

Mr Rao said that the PM has agreed to attend the Global Investors Summit to be held in November in Hyderabad. The scheduled is yet to be finalised.

“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.

Mr Rao said both 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.

When asked on the transfer of Bison Polo Ground land to the TS government for constructing of the proposed Secretariat building complex, Mr Rao said more than the Secretariat he want 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,” Mr Rao 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 per cent under Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act to 3.5 per cent.

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

Mr Rao also requested him to release the pending `450 crore dues to the state under the Backward Areas Development Fund.