Hoping for a fresh start between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Revanth Reddy dials Chandrababu Naidu

Reddy called Naidu over the phone and spoke with him for several minutes. The TDP chief is likely to send invitations to Reddy as well as other Telangana leaders to attend his swearing-in ceremony.

Sources said Reddy wants to make a fresh start with Naidu to discuss and resolve several pending issues between the states, including bifurcation of assets. He said he will not let ego or prestige come in the way of resolving issues with Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy had earlier said that the Congress supports Andhra Pradesh’s demand to be granted Special Category Status, which was promised during the bifurcation. At least 14 issues are pending between the two states – including clearing power dues that they owe each other; bifurcation of 91 institutions like AP State Finance Corporation; and division of cash balance and bank deposits – since Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated to create the state of Telangana on June 2, 2014.

In the past, former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao and former Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy held a couple of meetings to resolve the issues but could not come to a conclusion.

Reddy was with the Telugu Desam Party for several years, and was elected twice on a TDP ticket from Kodangal in 2009 and 2014. He was close to Naidu before he quit in October 2017 and joined the Congress.

He said he wants to work closely with Naidu and the Andhra government and maintain cordial relations. Sources said he is keen to hold meetings with the state to resolve as many issues as possible.