TRAINING ALL GUNS: Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Minister for Major Irrigation, in an animated discussion with Tammineni Verrabhadram of the CPI(M) at the meeting in Hyderabad on Friday as other leaders look on. - PHOTO: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: An all-party meeting held by the Government on Polavaram project at the Secretariat on Friday ended inconclusively with political parties raising fresh queries instead of indicating a definite stand on the project--yes or no.

The two-hour meeting at which Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy came face to face with Opposition leaders on the issue for the first time was marked by heated exchanges among themselves on one hand, and between them and the team of Ministers and officials who assisted him, on the other.

CPI(M) boycotts

After airing their views, the CPI(M) group, headed by B.V. Raghavulu, announced boycott of the meeting and walked out when the Chief Minister rejected its demand to "stop all the works" of the project till the parties gave out their opinion and postponed the discussions to January 13.

The CPI(M), the CPI, the BJP and the TRS whose representatives were present along with those of the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the BSP and the CPI(ML) ND complained at the outset itself that they were consulted after decisions were taken and the meeting ended abruptly without full-scale discussions citing time factor.

A presentation by Satish Chandra, Secretary, Irrigation, took most of the time, leaving only a half an hour for discussions. An argument followed between N. Narasimha Reddy of the TRS and V. Vasantha Kumar of the Congress with the former loudly protesting against "repetition of the old story" to justify Polavaram execution and the latter reminding him of the fate his party suffering "due to this kind of impatience."

T. Nageswara Rao, former Irrigation Minister, and S. Maruti, former Chief Engineer (both of the Telugu Desam), protested at being merely informed about the "decisions already taken."

Dr. Reddy and Major Irrigation Minister P. Lakshmaiah, said all political parties, at one time or other, had promised Polavaram project during elections and they were fulfilling only it.

Mr. Raghavulu criticised the urgency shown for Polavaram while forgetting Telangana projects like Inchampalli.

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