K Chandrashekhara Rao to land in Delhi amid a raging AP bhawan staff fight

NEW DELHI: The painful division of assets, staff and land between the new-born Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh is moving to New Delhi where everyone's eagerly awaiting the arrival of the CM of the new state, K Chandrashekhara Rao, on Friday. But there's one good news in the pipeline: The menu card of the highly-popular canteen at Delhi's Andhra Bhavan may add more dishes to reflect Telangana's cuisine.

During his three day visit, Rao is expected to solve the problems of the Telangana workers who are a minority in Andhra Bhavan. The Union of AP Employees Welfare Association has demanded that the 'division of employees' made after the states were bifurcated be rolled back as it "brings Andhra people under Telangana dominion." There are 177 employees in the Andhra Bhavan, of which 90 work full time. Only 11 of these hail from Telangana, of which 10 are cadre-level employees.

Nearly 32 are from AP and the rest from other States. In the past few days, all Telengana employees barring one have been transferred to 'Andhra blocks' and 20 Andhra employees have been sent to Telangana department.

"Employees from AP don't want to work under those from Telangana anymore. It will be better if Telangana workers are put to service in the Telangana blocks and vice-versa," said a member of the union. Though the TRS, the political face of the Telangana movement, wants the Bhavan to be handed over entirely to Telangana state as it was built on a land that was once owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad, officials have divided the buildings and employees of the Bhavan between the two States.

Of the 66 rooms in the three blocks of Andhra Bhavan – Godavari, Sabari and Swarnamukhi – 40 rooms have been allotted to AP while 26 are with Telangana.

Six rooms each in the Swarnamukhi and two floors each of Godavari have been allotted to each state. The popular canteen, conference hall, auditorium and foyers would be used by both the state governments.

Shashank Goel, resident commissioner of AP Bhavan, said all arrangements have been made for the CM Rao's stay at the Andhra Bhavan but his final plans are not known yet. Rao , who represented Mahbubnagar in the previous Lok Sabha, also has an official accomodation at 23, Tughlaq Road.

"We have earmarked a room for the CM in Sabari block. Arrangements for officials who will accompany him have also been made in other blocks," said Goel.