Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is likely to be presented with a list of demands by the TRS government during his civic reception in Hyderabad, scheduled on Monday. This is the first time, after assuming the VP’s office on 11 August, that Venkaiah will visit the Telangana capital.
Venkaiah’s political acumen will be tested during the reception when Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to urge him to come to the rescue of Telangana, which has been facing a range of problems on financial and administrative fronts.
KCR is expected to urge Venkaiah to waive off GST, which is pegged at 12% currently on all government projects, sources said. The division of AP High Court and distribution of assets of the combined state and increasing the number of Assembly seats are other demands that will be raised.
KCR is taking extra care to ensure a grand welcome for Venkaiah in Hyderabad, where the latter lived an active political life for four decades. KCR had backed the BJP’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the recently held elections and intends to use the felicitation ceremony to secure political and financial benefits for the state. Venkaiah will arrive by a special flight at Begumpet airport in Hyderabad on Monday morning and will reach the Raj Bhavan. Later, Venkaiah, along with his family members, he would be felicitated amid fanfare. Eminent persons from different walks of life are invited to the reception.
KCR has directed Telangana Chief Secretary S.P. Singh to set up an officials’ team to monitor the civic reception to the VP. The GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) will decorate the entire route from Begumpet to Raj Bhavan, with cut-outs of Venkaiah. A cultural show will be organised. Venkaiah will be accorded a similar civic reception in Andhra Pradesh where CM Chandrababu Naidu will present him with a list of demands. The date for the same is not fixed yet. “We have more demands than that of Telangana,” said a TDP MP who is coordinating the welcome ceremony for Venkaiah in AP.