Hyderabad: Dousing the hopes of Telangana protagonists who are expecting a favourable decision on separate statehood after the presidential elections on July 19, chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday indicated that a decision is not in the offing. Stating that there are “wheels within wheels,” he said the Congress would have to take into consideration several factors. “The issue cannot be looked at in isolation. The party will take the opinion of the all people,” he said.
Kiran Kumar said he has requested the Congress high command to take a decision on Telangana soon but refused to divulge what his recommendation was. Asked if the 2014 general election would be held in a bifurcated state, he said, “Wait and watch.” Asked to react to speculation that he would be replaced after the presidential elections, the chief minister said, “I wish all the best to those who want me to go. Nothing of the sort that you (the media) are imagining is going to happen.”
Asked whether the VANPIC project would be scrapped, he said the government would take a call only after the CBI completes its investigation. “It was essentially a G2G (government-to-government) agreement. Let the CBI investigate whether or not the terms and conditions were violated by the promoters,” he said.
As regards the Brahmani and Rakshana Steels projects, the agreements were cancelled because the promoters did violate the agreements, he said. Asked why the government has not decided to defray the legal costs of former minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao, the chief minister said he was yet to receive the minister’s letter seeking legal aid.
As regards the other five ministers facing notices from the Supreme Court, he was of the opinion that no one personally benefited by issuing GOs that allegedly helped Jagan Mohan Reddy raise investment in his company. “They were all cabinet decisions and Jagan Mohan Reddy took advantage of the GOs to raise investment in his companies. The ministers had no quid pro quo arrangement with anyone,” he said.
Asked when the power shortage would ease, the chief minister said he hoped there would be an improvement in eight months since the LNG import facility off the AP coast would be ready by then. “It will ease our problem to a large extent and the price of power generated would not be very expensive,” he said.
The cost of power generated from gas supplied from this facility would work out to Rs 5-6 per unit. If the gas was transported from the West Coast, its cost would go up to Rs 9 per unit, he said. Referring to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) reporting a drop in production of gas from its D6 unit in the KG basin, the chief minister said the Centre should take a call on whether RIL was speaking the truth.
If not, the Centre should decide what it should do, he said and pointed out that he raised the issue of RIL reporting drop in production of gas at a function in Chittoor district recently because Union Minister Sharad Pawar, who was a member of the GOM on allocation of gas, was on the dais.
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