Hyderabad: Finance minister T. Harish Rao and Congress MLC T. Jeevan Reddy got into a debate over the government not securing national status for the Kaleshwaram scheme in the Legislative Council on Saturday.
Mr Reddy said that the Centre had informed the Rajya Sabha that the state government had not requested national project status for Kaleshwaram and asked who was wrong on this issue.
To this, Mr Harish Rao alleged that the Congress was responsible for Kaleshwaram not getting national status. He asked why the then Congress-led government at the Centre promised national status to the Polavaram dam in the AP Reorganisation Act but denied it to the Pranahita- Chevella project.
He said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed all projects in the state. The state government had written several times to the Centre on the issue, Mr Harish Rao said. He said that the Congress leaders had filed cases against the Kaleshwaram project, and read out their names.
Mr Jeevan Reddy said the government must release a White Paper on the Kaleshwaram project so that it would be clear who was in the wrong.
