Will go to Erravalli farm house to debate on river water issue: Revanth

CM Revanth Reddy speaking during the PowerPoint presentation on Krishna river water issue at Praja Bhavan on Wednesday.
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Special Arrangement

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday asserted that he will not mind visiting the Erravelli farm house of former CM and BRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao to hold a mock assembly and debate on the irrigation projects and river water share of Telangana. He vowed to fight for the rights of Telangana and promised not to bow to any forces in its fight against securing the rightful share of river water for the State.

“We will take into consideration experience. If your suggestions will benefit the people of Telangana, the government will certainly take that into consideration. Whenever you feel like writing a letter to the Speaker to hold a session on discussing irrigation and river water share issue, the government is ready to fix the dates,” Mr. Reddy remarked at a PowerPoint presentation on Krishna river water at Praja Bhavan here.

“The decisions your government had taken and the present decisions taken by our government can be debated during the special session,” the Chief Minister said adding that as the Leader of House, he was giving an assurance that nobody’s respect and stature would be violated.

Mr. Reddy invited Mr. KCR to the Assembly to discuss the Krishna river water issue and promised to call the stakeholders for the debate. “If your health does not allow you to make it to the Assembly, I will send a Minister’s delegation to Erravelli farm house to hold the discussions. If you want my presence, I will not mind visiting the farm house along with the Ministers to have a fruitful debate,” he pointed out.

The Chief Minister said the intention of the government was to put the facts and figures in front of the people of the State. Addressing the legislators and others, Mr. Reddy said through a PowerPoint presentation, the government had laid bare the mistakes committed by KCR’s family on funds and water utilisation.

Stating that within a year of losing power and deposits and slipping into frustration for not getting even candidates to contest elections, the BRS leadership was trying to paint an image as if everything has deteriorated after the Congress came to power.

Taking a dig at BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, Mr. Reddy said all he wanted was a debate on river water in the Assembly not in any pub or bar. “But, he came and made some remarks. The BRS government made an all out effort to write death warrant for the Krishna river course in Telangana. If they had provided drinking water to Hyderabad from Krishna, the situation would have been different,” Mr. Reddy said pointing that if water was diverted from Jurala project to Palamur Ranga Reddy lift irrigation scheme, A.P. would not have got a chance to take up a new project.

Making a PowerPoint presentation, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress government in Telangana would persist with its legal, technical and administrative battle to reclaim the State’s rightful share of Krishna river waters. He accused the BRS regime of betraying Telangana’s long-term interests by compromising with Andhra Pradesh, allowing large-scale water diversion, engineering failures and financial mismanagement.

The Minister made two detailed PowerPoint presentations at Dr. Jyotirao Phule Praja Bhavan — one on the illegal diversion of Krishna river waters to Andhra Pradesh and the other on the disastrous consequences of shifting the originally sanctioned Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanthi (PCSS) project to Medigadda under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.

The event was attended by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy, TPCC president B. Mahesh Kumar Reddy, other Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Corporation Chairpersons, senior officials and senior Congress leaders.