Telangana govt wants ownership of Andhra Bhavan land in Delhi

The Telangana government wants the Centre to transfer to it the entire land currently in possession of Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi, saying the estate belonged to the erstwhile state of Hyderabad. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today wrote a letter to the Union Home Ministry seeking transfer of the land and expressed readiness to compensate Andhra Pradesh. "Therefore, while bringing these facts to your kind notice in a historical perspective, it is requested that the entire land presently in possession of AP Bhavan be transferred to the Government of Telangana, as it belonged to the erstwhile state of Hyderabad," Rao said in the letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The land on which the AP Bhavan and Telangana Bhavan are situated originally belonged to the erstwhile government of Nizam (before Independence), he said. "The government of India later took over Hyderabad House and land in extents of 7.56 acres in Pataudi House and 1.21 acres in Nursing Institute was allotted to the then government of Andhra Pradesh in lieu of this property. "Therefore, these properties belonged to the then state of Hyderabad under the rule of VI Nizam, which remained a separate state even after the independence of India. It was eventually included in the Union in 1948," he said. The Andhra state did not exist then as it was carved out of erstwhile Madras state only in 1953, whereas the state of Hyderabad continued to exist as such from 1948 until November, 1956, he contended. AP came into existence in 1956 with the merger of Andhra state and the Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad state. The Andhra Pradesh government (post-bifurcation) may be allotted some other land in the national capital and the Telangana government is ready to compensate the neighbouring state as the buildings at the site were built with the common resources of Andhra Pradesh, he added. State Bhavans in New Delhi, all government properties, serve as guest houses of sorts for politicians and officials visiting the national capital.