Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

PM talks to Naidu, Krishna on Paragodu

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD JUNE 13. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, has convened an all-party meeting on Saturday to discuss the controversial Paragodu project being constructed by Karnataka across the Chitravathi.

The decision to invite Opposition leaders for consultations is a positive turn-around from his earlier position that an all-party meeting would serve no purpose. Mr. Naidu held the view that Congress leaders should request the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, to prevail upon the Karnataka Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, to stop the Paragodu project. But, this proposition was unacceptable to the Congress which said it was up to the State Government to resolve the dispute with Karnataka.

Amidst political exchanges between the Telugu Desam Party and the Congress, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, telephoned the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on Thursday in a bid to bring about a rapprochement on the issue. While this development did not influence Mr. Naidu's decision to moderate his views, he apparently did not want to take the blame for ignoring the Opposition when the issue is snowballing into a full-fledged inter-State row.

The TDP justified its change of stand by saying that political decisions were always dynamic. Asked by reporters why the party had earlier turned down demands of the Congress and the BJP to convene an all-party meeting, the TDP MP, C. Ramachandraiah, said this was dictated by experiences with Karnataka.

Mr. Krishna had refused to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu until Ms. Sonia Gandhi advised him to abide by the Apex Court's judgment. The TDP had hoped that the State Congress leaders would convince Ms. Gandhi to repeat her action in respect of Paragodu.

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