KCR is Frustrated With Poll Defeats, Say Ministers

Hyderabad: The Congress on Monday strongly objected to the language used by BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao against the Revanth Reddy government on Sunday, saying it reflected his political frustration following repeated electoral defeats.

Referring to Chandrashekar Rao’s statement that he would “peel the skin off the Congress government,” ministers Ponnam Prabhakar, Jupally Krishna Rao and Vakiti Srihari said the people of Telangana had already skinned the BRS by rejecting the party in a series of elections since the 2023 Assembly polls.

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, the ministers said that Chandrashekar Rao had emerged from political isolation after nearly two years not out of concern for Telangana’s interests, but to save the BRS. They alleged that successive electoral setbacks had pushed the party towards political irrelevance.

Krishna Rao said the BRS president’s rhetoric about weakening the Congress was ironic, as the BRS itself had lost public confidence. He remarked that after years of governance failures, the party was left with little credibility to claim moral authority.

Prabhakar accused Chandrashekar Rao of attempting to regain attention by making misleading statements about the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS). He said the project was only symbolically inaugurated by Chandrashekar Rao ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections by switching on a motor, despite the absence of canal sanctions and mandatory environmental clearances.

He pointed out that the National Green Tribunal had imposed a `400-crore penalty and that a criminal case was registered against the project’s chief engineer. Prabhakar stated that the previous BRS government had submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court declaring that the project’s water would be used only for drinking purposes and not for irrigation, and challenged the former chief minister to debate these facts during the Assembly session.

Krishna Rao rejected Chandrashekar Rao’s claim that the project’s Detailed Project Report (DPR) was never returned, asserting that it was sent back in April 2023. He said that despite ruling for a decade and incurring massive debt, the BRS government failed to complete even the main canals of the PRLIS.

He added that the current government would require up to `50,000 crore to complete the project and that the court permissions secured so far were limited to drinking water supply.

Vakiti Srihari accused the BRS of indirectly supporting the BJP-led Centre and neglecting the Palamuru region. He said that substantial irrigation coverage in the area was achieved during the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy regime and questioned why the BRS, despite heavy borrowing, could not complete the long-pending project.