Chandrababu for resolving contentious issues with Telangana

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today asked Telangana government that they could "sit, discuss and resolve" any contentious issue between the two states and go to the Centre only if they could not arrive at a solution. "Both states should march ahead without any acrimony. The two Telugu-speaking states should compete with each other in development and not in creating acrimony. We should adopt a give-and-take approach (on contentious issues)," Naidu observed here today. In an oblique reference to the ongoing stir by Telangana lawyers demanding division of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad, he found fault with the Telangana government for raising issues "only that suited it" and seeking to rake up a controversy over them. "It's not right to wish everything should be in our favour. There should be some give-and-take. Let us sit and try to resolves the issues. If we fail, we can go to the Centre for a solution," Naidu remarked. The Chief Minister said he had once again appealed to the Centre (during his meetings with Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi last week) to expeditiously resolve all contentious issues between the two states. "There are certain unresolved issues on which the Centre should intervene and find a solution," he added. Reacting to the recent demolition of a couple of temples in the old city area of Vijayawada to facilitate construction of flyover, Naidu said such temples would be reconstructed at a nearby place. "There are some temples built on the road years ago. Now they are coming in the way of development and that's the problem," he said. The Chief Minister appealed to everyone not to stoke passions on the issue as the government has already constituted a committee with five ministers to look into the issue and ensure reconstruction of the temples. Naidu's reaction came in the backdrop of a war of words between the TDP and the BJP leaders over the demolition of ancient temples and also a 'gowshala'.