Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday climbed a step down to hold negotiations with his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao over Krishna river water sharing.

Following the reports of clashes between AP and Telangana officials at Nagarjunasagar, Naidu called up KCR and sought his cooperation to resolve the issue amicably.

He suggested that both the Chief Ministers along with the officials could have a meeting at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Governor E S L Narasimhan on Saturday. KCR is learnt to have agreed to the proposal.

Naidu also asked the AP irrigation officials to maintain restraint and not to get into confrontation with the Telangana officials. He said the issue could be resolved through negotiations, rather than through confrontation.

It was commendable on the part of Naidu to take initiative and talk to KCR to sort out the problems. It remains to be seen how long this bonhomie would continue.