Revanth Blames KCR for Telangana's Water Woes

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday threw a challenge at his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu to agree for full rights to Telangana over utilisation of 1500 TMC of assured water from Godavari and Krishna rivers.

Expressing his government’s strong resolve to stop the proposed Polavaram-Banakacharla link project in Andhra Pradesh, Revanth Reddy said Naidu would be thoroughly mistaken if he thinks he could tweak procedures and obtain clearances from the Centre using his relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While addressing a press conference after chairing state MPs' meeting held to muster all party support in opposing the Banakacharla project, Revanth Reddy squarely blamed former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for laying the foundation for AP to come up with the new project. “It was KCR who first said 3,000 TMC feet of Godavari water goes into sea and proposed that two states should make best use of these unutilised waters,” Reddy pointed out.

Referring to Naidu’s claims that AP would use only 200 TMC feet out of 3,000 TMC feet of excess waters for Banakacharla, Revanth Reddy said Andhra Pradesh should not object to Telangana utilising 1,000 TMC feet water from Godavari and 500 TMC feet from Krishna if Naidu is sure of excess waters.

“If Telangana is assured of 1500 TMC feet of water, we will not interfere with any of AP’s projects including Banakacharla. This is not about two individuals. This is about protecting Telangana’s river water shares and the state government will not let anyone usurp our rights,” Revanth Reddy said.

The Chief Minister and irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy are scheduled to meet Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil in New Delhi on Thursday to register opposition to the Banakacharla link project.

Revanth Reddy castigated and chastised former chief minister and BRS president K Chandrashekar Rao, and former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao as being responsible for the situation Telangana finds itself in today.

He blamed the two BRS leaders for knowingly giving away Telangana’s water rights to AP.

“Chandrashekhar Rao first declared at an Apex Council meeting in Delhi in 2016 attended by Chandrababu Naidu, that 3,000 TMC feet of water from the Godavari was going waste into the sea each year, and AP and Telangana should work together to make use of this water.

Chandrashekar Rao also repeatedly assured that he will “act like the big brother” and help AP use this water and turn Rayalaseema into ‘Ratanalaseema’, Revanth Reddy said.

“It is this 2016 agreement, and Chandrashekhar Rao’s subsequent agreement with Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who took over as the CM from Chandrababu Naidu, and four meetings that the BRS chief had with Jagan Mohan Reddy that paved the way for today’s predicament. Chandrashekhar Rao laid the foundation for the problem and now Chandrababu Naidu waves the 2016 agreement in Telangana’s face while going ahead with the Banacharla project and is taking shortcuts to do so,” Revanth Reddy explained.

“Banakacharla, is being projected as a 200 TMC feet project, but is being created to handle 300 TMC feet. KCR had then suggested that 400 TMC feet can be used by AP and we should not be surprised if Chandrababu Naidu does this too,” he said.

He said Chandrashekar Rao met with Jagan Mohan Reddy at a meeting organised by a contractor and with greed for commissions, agreed that AP can even use 400 TMC feet of the Godavari water for the project. “In all, they met four times and reached an agreement on the project,” he added.

Revanth Reddy was unsparing in his criticism of Chandrashekar Rao and Harish Rao, who he said, “between them controlled the irrigation department for 10 years of the BRS rule. If anyone needs to be punished for Telangana’s losses on the irrigation front, if there has been injustice, then Chandrashekhar Rao and Harish Rao must be hanged.”

“Harish Rao and Chandrashekhar Rao never worked for Telangana, not a single project that was started before Telangana was formed was completed in the Krishna basin, but `2 lakh crore was paid to contractors for their bills. Now the situation is that we are not even able to spend `500 crore for irrigation projects, this is the financial condition of the state. The BRS, which looted the state, is now running a campaign of lies that we are not doing anything to stop Andhra Pradesh.”

Attacking Harish Rao for criticising the Congress government for its alleged silence on AP’s moves on the project, Revanth Reddy said: “How dare Harish blame us. Had Kaleshwaram barrages been good, then water would not have flown down. But he says what if Medigadda has a problem. But Medigadda is the heart of the Kaleshwaram project. Harish, if your heart is removed, will you continue to exist? What use is the body without the heart?”

The Chief Minister further alleged that the BRS leaders do not even let tragedies be treated as us and use them for political gain. “Chandrashekhar Rao and Harish Rao’s faces light up when people die in accidents as in SLBC tunnel, or in other incidents. People feel empathy and pain when something like this happens but these two appear to experience a devilish glee in the misfortune of others. And they are so greedy despite the BRS party having a kitty of Rs.1,500 crore that if they find a ten paise coin on the street, they will stop, grab it and put it in their pocket. Harish Rao should stop blaming us, stop acting like a child. Your hair has greyed, you are ageing, and BP and sugar problems come to people who are scared of getting caught,” Revanth Reddy said.

Speaking at the all-party meeting earlier, Revanth Reddy said Telangana will not allow its rightful share of the Godavari and Krishna waters to be diverted. “Politics can wait. Farmers’ rights come first,” he said and urged all parties to stand together in defense of Telangana’s water interests.

At the meeting, Uttam Kumar Reddy gave a comprehensive technical presentation, exposing the serious legal, hydrological, and inter-state violations embedded in the proposed Banakacharla scheme.

The meeting was attended by Congress MPs Renuka Chowdhury, Dr Mallu Ravi, Suresh Kumar Shetkar, Anil Kumar Yadav, Chamala Kiran Kumar, Balram Naik, and Raghuveera Reddy, G Vamsi Krishna, BJP MPs D.K. Aruna and M. Raghunandan Rao, BRS MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra, and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi.