Telangana Congress prepping up to counter BRS attack in Assembly over water issues

Hyderabad: As the Winter Session of the Telangana Assembly is set to resume on Friday after a three-day break, the ruling Congress party is gearing up to counter the Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) during discussion on irrigation projects and river water issues.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has asked his Cabinet colleagues and party legislators to be well-prepared to present their arguments during the discussion.

As the BRS is looking to launch an attack on the Congress government for alleged failure to complete irrigation projects and for allegedly compromising on Telangana’s fair share in the waters of Godavari and Krishna rivers, the Chief Minister has directed ministers and MLAs to be ready to counter the attack.

The Chief Minister has asked ministers from each district to be well-prepared to counter the BRS on issues related to irrigation projects.

The Chief Minister already held a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and other ministers, and government whips to discuss the strategy during the debate.

As part of the preparations for the debate, Uttam Kumar Reddy will be making a PowerPoint presentation at a meeting on Thursday evening. The Chief Minister, Pradesh Congress Committee president Mahesh Kumar Goud, ministers, MLAs, MLCs, MPs and other public representatives of the Congress party will attend the meeting.

The Irrigation Minister is likely to give a detailed briefing on the status of irrigation projects and inter-state water disputes. Irrigation engineers will also provide the relevant information to the participants.

Uttam Kumar Reddy is likely to highlight the alleged neglect of the previous BRS government in building irrigation projects and its failure to protect the state’s interests.

The irrigation minister will explain the water disputes with Andhra Pradesh and how the previous government failed to stop the neighbouring state from violating various agreements.

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The long-pending Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation project will be on focus as the BRS president and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) recently announced the plans to launch a mass movement to “expose” the Congress government’s “failure” to complete the project.

The Irrigation Minister is also likely to make PowerPoint presentation during the debate in Assembly.

BRS leader and Former Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao has already requested Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to allow the BRS to make a PowerPoint presentation in the Assembly. The Speaker said he would examine the request.

A heated debate is likely on the irrigation projects and river water issues. It was not clear if KCR, who briefly attended the House on the first day, would be present during the debate.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has thrown a challenge to KCR for a debate on all issues in the Assembly.

The Chief Minister has claimed that the BRS leadership was misleading the public on irrigation projects in Palamuru (Mahabubnagar), Nalgonda, and Khammam districts.

Uttam Kumar Reddy has already accused the previous BRS regime of neglecting Palamuru-Ranga Reddy project and diverting the funds to Kaleshwaram.

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In a statement released on Wednesday, he said that the State government is committed to protecting Telangana’s allocated 968 TMC share in Godavari waters and safeguarding future irrigation projects

He asserted that the State government has taken a series of proactive administrative and legal measures to robustly defend the State’s irrigation interests in the ongoing inter-state water dispute over Andhra Pradesh’s proposed diversion of Godavari waters through expansions related to the Polavaram project.

He highlighted the controversy surrounding Andhra Pradesh’s initial Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project (PBLP), which was later repackaged as the Polavaram-Nallamala Sagar Link Project (PNLP). These schemes seek to divert up to 200 TMC of Godavari floodwaters to Andhra Pradesh.

“Telangana has consistently maintained that these projects violate the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) Award of 1980, CWC- TAC clearance accorded for Polavaram Irrigation project, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014, and Central Water Commission (CWC) guidelines. They go beyond the originally approved 80 TMC diversion to the Krishna basin and encroach on flood waters that remain unallocated, ” Reddy stated.