BRS ‘Chalo Nalgonda’ forced Govt move resolution for conditional handover to KRMB: Harish Rao

HYDERABAD: Former Minister T Harish Rao while countering the presentation given by Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy in the State Assembly on Monday said that the Government finally saved its face by moving a resolution setting up conditions for handing over management of common projects to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).

“The Congress Government finally rectified its mistakes by opting for a resolution on the subject. It is a victory for the people of Telangana and the BRS,” Harish Rao said. Criticising the Government for not letting the BRS present its point of view with the help of a PPT in the Assembly, Harish Rao said that people had the right to know the facts. He said that the Government resorted to a presentation because of the BRS party’s ‘Chalo Nalgonda’ public meeting on Tuesday.

Harish Rao said that the Government falsely accused the earlier Government of accepting to hand over projects to the KRMB, Harish Rao suggested that the Government should its lies as a book of lies.

Also Read: Telangana Assembly moves resolution placing conditions to hand over projects to KRMB.

Enlisting four blatant lies in the Government narrative, Harish Rao said that Telangana never agreed to hand over the projects to KRMB in the Apex council meeting as the matter was sub judice.

“It was wrong to say that the Telangana Government never objected to the Union Government’s notification. Please refer to Rahul Bojja’s letter in which he mentioned that the Telangana Government sought modifications as of July 15, 2021,” he said.

Telangana Government made it clear in the 16th meeting of KRMB that it would not accept management by KRMB till operation protocol was decided and accepted.

Telangana rejected the tentative water share between Telangana and AP in the second Apex council meeting. Telangana Government shot 27 letters to the KRMB and the Union Jalashakti ministry on this subject, Harish Rao said

He said that it was the Congress Government that went ahead and said that it would hand over the Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar projects to KRMB during the January 2024 meeting. “You also agreed to security by central forces and to allocate seed money for the management of the KRMB. You responded only after I alerted you through my press conference,” Harish Rao pointed out.

Harish Rao said that the Government which reiterated the same stand in February was trying to make Rahul Bojja, Secretary Irrigation for the repeated mistakes it committed. “We will support your resolution only if you delete all the allegations you made against us,” Harish said. Demanding the Government to apologise to the people of Telangana for accepting to handover projects to KRMB without finalisation of allocations between the sibling States, Harish said that the 299:512 share in favour of AP was only ad-hoc and Telangana Government never accepted as a final award.

Condemning the efforts of the treasury benches to malign Smitha Sabharwal, the former Irrigation Minister said that she only mentioned that the State had no option than agreeing to a 50:50 share till operational protocols were determined. “The same was written by Rahul Bojja after you took over,” he said.

Objecting to the way Chief Minister Revanth Reddy addresses KCR, Harish Rao said that he must remember he became CM only because KCR fought and achieved Telangana. “Yes, we have always said that AP could utilise the Godavari water that was going waste into the Sea. But you are distorting the facts. But KCR always demanded the final allocation of Krishna waters between the States. KCR wrote to the Centre on July 14, 2024, about the reallocation of Krishna waters. As that process was getting delayed, we moved Supreme Court for a Tribunal,” Harish recalled.

Explaining further, he said that the State withdrew the case to facilitate final allocation but nothing happened afterward. “Now that the Centre has agreed to a Tribunal, you must take our help and all of us must fight for the final allocation of Krishna waters. We reiterate that we talked about the surplus in Godavari and not of Krishna,” he pointed out.

Objecting to the allegation of Congress Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy and Ponnala Prabhakar who said that the then BRS Government let the AP Government continue with the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project by the AP Government, Harish said that Telangana objected to the project on January 29, 2020, even before the GO was issued on May 5, 2020, and written a letter on May 12, 2020. “We reiterated our stand in the Apex Council meetings too. Why did you keep mum when the AP Government expanded the drawing capacity of the Pothireddypadu head regulator,” he said, adding that BRS fought against the move for 40 days in the then State Assembly of erstwhile and stopped the project by moving NGT.