Hyderabad: Telangana Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari made it clear that 50 per cent of seats in the National Institute of Technology-Warangal (NIT-W) belonged to candidates from Telangana only.

As per the Act on the admissions to the NITs, 50 per cent of the seats belonged to local students only, the Minister said. “In the wake of formation of new State of Telangana and NIT-W being in Telangana, 50 per cent of seats belong to the State only. There is no question of sharing the seats with the neighboring Telugu State,” he stated.

To this effect, the Minister decided hold consultations with the Centre on Tuesday. “I will meet Human Resource Development Secretary Mohanty and would apprise him that as per the Parliament Act, the seats belong to candidates from Telangana only. If possible, I will also meet HRD Minister Smriti Zubin Irani,” he said.

Kadiyam further said the government would take legal course, if they failed to get their quota of seats. Kadiyam said Article 371 D would be applicable to the State institutions but not national level institutes.

According to sources, the Andhra Pradesh government has been strongly lobbying for seats in the NIT-W. Sensing the trouble, the Minister has reportedly decided to air dash to national capital to make sure that State does not lose its rightful seats.