Senior Congress leader and former MP V Hanumantha Rao dashed off a letter to Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday, and urged her not to handover the Bison Polo Grounds in Hyderabad to the Telangana state government.
The letter requested her to personally the ground, inspect the lung space, and also take the opinion of local opposition parties, before allotting the land to the state.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been openly eyeing the land in Gymkhana Ground and Bison Polo Grounds in Hyderabad, for constructing a 'vastu-compliant' Secretariat, Legislature and a cultural centre on the premises.
In his letter, Hanumantha Rao also pointed out that half of the present Secretariat is empty, as the Andhra Pradesh government had shifted its administration to Amaravati.
He also said that the shifting of the Secretariat would result in heavy traffic snarls, and inconvenience several daily commuters.
This comes days after KCR's sudden visit to New Delhi las week, ahead of the Union Cabinet reshuffle, to meet with Union Ministers and discuss state issues.
"Government of India has agreed to give the defense lands for the construction of new state secretariat and for expansion of Medchal Highway and Karimnagar Rajiv Rahadari," a press release from the Chief Minister's office said, hours after he met Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
"Jaitley has informed the CM that the Centre is ready to handover the Bison Polo Grounds land for the construction of a new state secretariat as well as lands required for the expansion of Medchal and Rajiv Rahadari. He said that the Centre has examined the request from the state on the matter from all angles and decided to hand over the required land," the press release added.
KCR also said that the Centre had agreed to transfer defence lands to the state, for the construction of flyovers, as part of its Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP).
The SRDP is part of the state's plan to construct multi-layer flyovers over 20 junctions in the city to decongest traffic in Hyderabad.
Despite being faced with several protests and stiff opposition from activists and citizens, KCR remains uncompromising on his decision.
Protesters claim that the move would kill off a crucial lung space in Secunderabad.