BRS warns leaders to tread cautiously on bifurcation issues
HYDERABAD: The top leadership of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has warned its ministers, MLAs, MPs and others against raising issues of contention between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, a day after labour minister Ch. Malla Reddy told the media that the BRS would complete the Polavaram project if elected to power in AP.
Party sources said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and working president K.T. Rama Rao took a serious view of minister Malla Reddy’s comments, as it could have political implications as the BRS looks to make its mark on national politics.
Opposition parties in both states have already been questioning the BRS as to why it had been opposing the Polavaram project since the state bifurcation in 2014. The BRS had also moved the Supreme Court eight years ago against the project, raising concerns about the backwaters submerging Bhadrachalam.
As recently as July 2022, minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar held the Polavaram project responsible for the flooding of Bhadrachalam and demanded a height reduction of the dam.
Besides the Polavaram project, several bifurcation-related issues, such as the division of assets of Schedule IX, X institutions located in Hyderabad, sharing of Krishna, Godavari water and power dues, continue to keep relations between the Telugu states tense.
The Telangana government is refusing to share its assets in Hyderabad and Singareni Collieries, with the AP government approaching the top court. Telangana is demanding half of the Krishna River water, but the AP government is opposing it.
Sources said that it was easy for the BRS to make a stance when it was confined to Telangana, but now that it is entering the AP political scene, it has to protect the interests of both states.
Leaders believe that raising such contentious issues ahead of the Telangana Assembly polls will give opposition parties easy fodder to target the BRS.
On January 2, AP became the first state to get a BRS president, with K. Chandrashekar Rao appointing Thota Chandrashekar to the post. With political activities expected to be ramped up in AP after Sankranthi, Malla Reddy’s comments on Polavaram caused unnecessary controversy and embarrassed the party leadership, sources said.
