BJP Blames Cong, BRS for Betraying Telangana
Ramchander Rao accused the Congress of not allowing the BJP legislators to present their point of view on Krishna waters in the Assembly and the current attempt is to highlight the facts and figures and how both parties ditched the state.
Hyderabad: The BJP has accused the Congress and BRS of “betraying” Telangana’s interests in the matter of Krishna and Godavari waters, while claiming that the BJP-led Centre had taken concrete steps to secure the state’s rightful share of waters.
At a presentation titled ‘Krishna and Godavari waters allocations and utilisations in Telangana’ at the state party office here, Sriram Vedire, former adviser to the Union jal shakti ministry, in presence of BJP state president N Ramchander Rao and senior leaders, said that undivided Andhra Pradesh was allocated 1,005 tmc ft of Krishna waters by KWDT‑I and KWDT‑II but Telangana could use only about 200 tmc ft. Of the 968 tmc ft of water from the Godavari, Telangana could use only around 500 tmc ft. He alleged that Congress governments in undivided AP had enabled large-scale diversion of Krishna waters from Telangana towards the Penna basin through projects fed by the Pothireddypadu head regulator, and then “institutionalised the injustice” at the time of bifurcation by inserting Section 89 in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. This clause, he said, blocked any reallocation of project-wise Krishna waters by KWDT‑II and excluded key Telangana projects like Palamuru–Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme (PRLIS) from the list of continuing schemes, while favouring projects in AP.
The BJP blamed “strategic failure” during the decade-long BRS rule on water policy. Despite spending lakhs of crore rupees on irrigation, the BRS government allowed AP’s capacity to draw Krishna water to rise from 4.3 tmc ft per day to 13.7 tmc ft per day through new lift schemes, while focusing disproportionately on the troubled Kaleshwaram project in the secure Godavari basin and neglecting vulnerable Krishna basin infrastructure. The BRS government not only agreed to a disadvantageous interim share of 299 tmc ft in Krishna waters in 2015 but also failed to fully utilise even that quantity due to incomplete projects, the party said.
Vedire said data gaps and delay in providing information by the BRS and Congress governments had stalled clearances for PRLIS and slowed the process of securing additional terms of reference for KWDT‑II. This, he argued, cost Telangana nearly a decade in getting fresh allocation of 1,050 tmc ft that is now before the tribunal.
The BJP highlighted the Centre’s steps such as issuing KRMB jurisdiction notification in July 2021, pushing for and finally notifying additional terms of teference for KWDT‑II in 2023, and proposing inter-linking of rivers with up to 90 per cent Union funding. Telangana must present a strong technical and legal case before KWDT‑II, the BJP asserted, to secure the best possible share from Krishna and to overcome what it termed as years of “policy paralysis and misplaced priorities” under Congress and BRS.
Ramchander Rao accused the Congress of not allowing the BJP legislators to present their point of view on Krishna waters in the Assembly and the current attempt is to highlight the facts and figures and how both parties ditched the state.
