Hyderabad: The BJP has now intervened in the ongoing battle between the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, over the cash-for-vote and phone tapping cases. AP chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu wants coalition partner BJP to play the mediator, while Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao seems unyielding.
“Naidu has made life difficult for us by raising the issue of Section 8. As the ruling party at the Centre, the BJP cannot remain silent for long. We want to mediate and convince the two chief ministers to bury their hatchets. However, we are finding it difficult as sentiments are flying high,” a senior BJP leader said.
Naidu has been pressuring Governor ESL Narasimhan to invoke Section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act, thereby taking direct control of law and order in Hyderabad. BJP central leadership sent petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan to Hyderabad to work out a rapprochement between Naidu and Rao. While Pradhan had a breakfast session with Naidu in Visakhapatnam, his luncheon meeting with Rao had to be cancelled as the latter was upset with the Central government's stand on Section 8.
“Union home minister Rajnath Singh said that the cash-for-vote case and Section 8 are different issues. The BJP has to make this clear to Naidu and rein him in. Even finance minister Arun Jaitley had said in Parliament that the governor cannot have powers of the state. When this is the case, the BJP has to make its partner TDP realise this legal position before trying for a rapprochement,” Keshav Rao, Telangana Rashtra Samiti secretary-general said.
