Cabinet clears Polavaram ordinance, TRS calls for bandh

New Delhi: Ahead of Andhra Pradesh’s bifurcation on 2 June, the Cabinet cleared the Polavaram Irrigation Project Ordinance on Tuesday which merged seven mandals of Telanagana into Seemandhra, said sources on Wednesday. The Ordinance is with President Pranab Mukherjee awaiting his approval. [caption id=“attachment_1548141” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] TRS chief KC Rao called for a bandh on Thursday. PTI[/caption] Telangana Chief Minister-designate K Chandrasekhar Rao has called for a bandh on Thursday as he is protesting the transfer of villages to Seemandhra. K Chandrashekhara Rao is demanding that not an inch of Telangana should go to Seemandhra, the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. Since the TRS has come to power on its own in Telangana, the bandh is likely to be a success. The TRS has won 63 Assembly seats and 11 Lok Sabha seats in the recent Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Earlier in the day, the Polavaram Irrigation Project Sadhana Samithi’s convener Kolanukonda Shivaji said that the new Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu should use his good offices to bring an ordinance on the Polavaram project before 2 June, as discussed in the last session of Parliament when the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Bill, 2014, was passed. Shivaji said that since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh would be completed by 2 June, unless the Polavaram ordinance is brought before that date, the matter may have to be discussed again in Parliament. Although the previous UPA government had declared Polavaram to be a “national project”, it was unable to bring the ordinance on the same as the model code of conduct had come into effect immediately after the last session of Parliament. Shivaji said that a convention would be held here on Thursday to discuss the issue and the future course of action with all political parties. (IBN with additional information from PTI)