KCR To Chair Joint Meeting Of BRSLP & State Executive On December 19
BRS to discuss Krishna–Godavari water sharing, Palamuru–Rangareddy project, and Congress, BJP policies on December 19
Hyderabad: BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is scheduled to chair a joint meeting of the party’s legislative wing and the state executive committee on December 19 where the main agenda would be what he called the failure of the state government in getting a fair share of Krishna and Godavari river waters to the state.
Sources said the party would chalk out strategy for a grassroot-level movement against the Congress government by highlighting its alleged negligence of the irrigation projects constructed by the BRS government. The proposed movement would be directed to fight against Andhra Pradesh's exploitation of water resources, construction of the Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme (PRLIS) and water allocations to both Telugu states.
Following deliberations at the meeting about how the Congress government had not only ignored the issue but had helped Andhra Pradesh go ahead with projects on the Krishna, Chandrashekar Rao is likely to officially launch the campaign.
“There will be public mobilisation at the grassroot level. Irrigation was stabilised during the BRS government, under KCR’s leadership. The projects that made significant contributions to the state have fallen under neglect in the present government. There is no budget even for maintaining most of the projects," BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan Kumar told Deccan Chronicle.
The BRS believed the only option left was to protest to counter the “injustice” being done to Telangana by the BJP government at the Centre, through its policy of supporting Andhra Pradesh's continuous exploitation of water in the name of linking rivers. It said that despite the AP government “plundering” the Godavari and Krishna waters, the Congress government had failed to prevent it. “In this situation, another public movement becomes inevitable towards protecting the interests of Telangana,” read a media statement from Chandrashekar Rao.
The BRS alleged that its previous government had secured the allocation of 91 tmc ft to the PRLIS but the Congress government was now telling the Centre that 45 tmc ft was sufficient. “Irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy agreeing to 45 tmc ft and bowing down before the Central government is tantamount to mortgaging the interests of the farmers of the state. The Congress government's stance is causing grave injustice to the state. Moreover none of the eight BJP MPs from Telangana are speaking up, as the interests of Telangana are being harmed,” Chandrashekar Rao said in the statement.
