In a clear indication that the government can no longer neglect development and welfare programmes that had taken a backseat in the State for the last three months due to various problems, Chief Minister K. Rosaiah called upon all parties to focus on implementation of government programmes.

“We have already lost valuable three months. The pace of government programmes in the State had slowed down with MLAs and Ministers not paying adequate attention on their implementation. It’s time all parties cooperated to work for the State’s progress,” he said here on Saturday.

The Chief Minister commenced district-wise review meetings, starting with Mahabubnagar, in an exercise seen as not only an attempt to put the administration back on the rails after the prolonged turmoil over Telangana, but also assert his position. Without directly referring to the Telangana issue, Mr. Rosaiah said that none in the State could offer a solution. It could be resolved only at the national level and Centre was seized of the matter.

When TDP MLA Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy said that they were attending the review meeting after submitting resignations as MLAs, the Chief Minister said that they would continue to be legislators till their papers were accepted by the Speaker and they should discharge their responsibilities.

The meeting was attended by Ministers, MLAs, MLCs of Congress and Telugu Desam of Mahabubnagar, including MP Manda Jagannadham. TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao who is Mahabubnagar MP, did not attend.

Laying the road map for these meetings, he invited the leaders to highlight overall problems like drought, flood relief and rehabilitation, irrigation and power supply. He regretted that disbursement of scholarships and fee reimbursement for students was getting delayed due to lack of coordination between departments.