Jagan’s Delhi Visit : What’s Up?

In what could be the first visit to New Delhi ever since Covid-19 broke out in India and after a nation-wide lockdown is imposed, AP CM YS Jagan is heading to national capital for a two-day trip.

Jagan will be landing in Delhi today around 2 PM and he is scheduled to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Jagan is expected to discuss on the pending issues in AP Reorganization Act, financial aid to AP due to Covid-19, AP government’s resolution for abolition of Legislative Council and pending approval on it from the Centre and most importantly, the legal issues pertaining to State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar. Jagan is expected to present Amit Shah over how the state is drastically hit by Corona Virus pandemic and how it has impacted the state’s economy.

Meanwhile, CM Jagan is also going to meet Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Jagan’s meeting with Shekhawat gained significance as AP and Telangana are waging a war over sharing of water resources and construction of irrigation projects.

AP government had earlier worte a letter to Telangana state government over construction of new irrigation projects on Krishna and Godavari rivers without procuring necessary permissions. AP is complaining that Telangana state is executing 7 new irrigation projects and some of them are affecting Andhra irrigation projects like Polavaram in downstream.

On the other hand, Telangana has also raised objection to AP’s scheme on utilizing Krishna River water from the Srisailam reservoir. CM Jagan is going to discuss these key issues with Water Resource Minister Shekhawat and also talk about the proposed Irrigation projects in Rayalaseema. CM Jagan is going to present AP government’s version on the Irrigation Projects coming up in Rayalaseema.

While Water Resources Minister had earlier written to both states (AP and Telangana) offering to convene a meeting of the Apex Committee under AP Reorganization Act 2014 and to sort out the disputes over utilization of Krishna and Godavari rivers, the meeting was scheduled for June 4. However, there is no official communication regarding the Apex Committee meeting so far indicating that this may be pushed for a later date.