Point by point, Harish Rao exposes Revanth Reddy’s lies

Harish Rao, who condemned the foul language used by Revanth Reddy in Sunday’s press conference, said the Chief Minister’s arguments were baseless as he had hardly any knowledge of the underlying facts

Hyderabad: In a blow-by-blow expose of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s lies on the fate of the joint projects in Krishna river basin and water sharing, BRS leader and former Minister T Harish Rao on Monday presented documentary evidence which showed that neither the BRS government nor former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had ever signed any agreement to hand over the irrigation projects to the river management boards.

Chandrashekhar Rao and the BRS government had repeatedly insisted on Telangana’s concerns being addressed before any component of the projects were handed over to the boards, he said, citing the summary record of discussions of the 17th meeting of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on May 10, 2023, where Telangana had not agreed to the transfer of components of Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam and stressed that the matter be referred to the Apex Council to discuss common assets.

Harish Rao, who condemned the foul language used by Revanth Reddy in Sunday’s press conference, said the Chief Minister’s arguments were baseless as he had hardly any knowledge of the underlying facts. Whether it was in the KRMB meetings or even at the Apex council, the former BRS government had stuck to its stand without yielding to the pressure of the Centre and had refused to hand over operational control over the joint projects and their outlets.

At the 16th meeting of the Krishna River Management Board held on May 27, 2022, Andhra Pradesh had readily offered to hand over the projects to the Board whereas Telangana had declined to part with them without addressing its concerns. Presenting the consensus decision taken at the meeting, the Member Secretary of the board had made it clear that though AP had agreed for handing over the projects, the decision of the Telangana government on the operational control of the projects and their components was “awaited”, Harish Rao said, presenting documentary proof for the same.

At the 17th meeting of the KRMB as well, the Telangana Irrigation Secretary had made it clear that the State was not for handing over the projects without all other issues involved in water sharing between the two States being addressed. Even at the second apex council meeting chaired by the union Minister for Jal Shakti, Chandrashekhar Rao had openly stated that the Krishna projects could not be handed over to the KRMB without resolving the whole gamut of issues involved as it would be against the interests of the State.

Stating that the truth would speak for the BRS and prove who made real sacrifices for Telangana and who had fallen to the lure of berths, Harish Rao also quoted minutes of the meeting held with the Irrigation secretaries and E-in-Cs of both the States on January 17 by the union Secretary for Jal Shakti in New Delhi, after Revanth Reddy assumed charge.

U Turn in Congress rule

Officials of Telangana had given the concurrence for handing over the projects along with their outlets within a month, thus taking a U-turn in the stand of Telangana after the Congress came to power. Harish Rao also pointed out that Irrigation officials wrote to the Ministry of Jal Shakti correcting their stand only when they were questioned and condemned by him after going through the minutes. But the State officials repeated their mistake at the latest KRMB meeting as well. Officials of both Telangana and AP had gone on record expressing their willingness to hand over the management of the projects to the KRMB, he said.

He questioned as to why the State government had preferred to be silent when the Srisailam project continued to be under the operational control of AP while allowing the CRPF to guard the NSP dam which was under the operational control of Telangana till December 28, 2023. Irrigation officials and police from Telangana were denied entry by the CRPF to the dam site for even taking up maintenance works, he pointed out, again citing documents.

On the Pothireddypadu issue, Harish Rao pointed out that Congress leaders from Telangana including N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and others who were part of the YS Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet in 2005 had remained tight-lipped when the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator was widened further facilitating drawl of more than the permitted volume.

Dismissing Revanth Reddy’s allegation that the widening work on Pothireddypadu was executed when he and late Nayini Narsimha Reddy were part of the YSR cabinet, Rao said they had resigned from the cabinet on July 4, 2005 protesting against the injustice meted out to Telangana, non-implementation of GO No 610, construction of Pulichintala project without addressing the concerns of Telangana and continued encounter killings of naxalites without calling them for talks.

Three months after their exit, the YSR cabinet issued GO No 170 on September 13, 2005 and GO No 233 on December 19, 2005 for widening the Pothireddypadu head regulator. The TRS had then moved an adjournment motion in the house opposing the augmentation of Pothireddypadu that was intended to benefit Rayalaseema at the cost of Telangana and the delta region. But the motion was, however, disallowed in the house by the then speaker. The TRS members had stalled the house on the issue for 40 days.

However, the Chief Minister was blaming the BRS with a pack of lies, he said, reiterating that he would present more proof for Revanth Reddy’s blatant lies once the Assembly session began.