Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and former chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) demanded the Congress-led state government to take an all-party delegation to Delhi to fight against the Krishna River Management Board’s (KRMB) call to takeover of Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam projects.
The ‘Chalo Nalgonda‘ meeting held on Tuesday, February 13, is KCR’s first mass interaction with the public post the recently held Assembly elections last year.
He asked the people of Telangana to “fight till the end” over the state’s rights to water in Krishna and Godavari rivers.
“Due to fluoride, the lives of Nalgonda people had become miserable. We took the affected people to Delhi and showed them to the Prime Minister. If there is no water, Telangana people will not survive. I have been speaking about this running around for 24 years like a bird,” he said.
KCR slams Congress
While terming the meeting as ‘non-political’, the BRS chief also slammed the Congress for failing to deliver on its poll promises. He said that the uninterrupted electricity supply that the state witnessed during his chief ministership is not the case anymore since the transfer of power.
“Where did the electricity go all of a sudden? Did it get a magical disease? This is what happens when fools come to power,” he remarked.
He claimed that the situation is so dire already that even the state Assembly sessions are being run on power generators due to interruptions in supply.
First remarks on Assembly elections’ result
In his first remarks on the loss in the Assembly polls, he said that the BRS government “did its best” during its time in power and said that the party, now in its role in the opposition, will question the government for the people.
“I don’t know what kind of anger you (people) felt (against BRS) or what deception you were put through, but, you sold a cow delivering milk and bought a bull,” he remarked, primarily targetting voters of Nalgonda, where the Congress bagged 11 out of 12 seats.
The meeting held at the Marriguda bypass, outside Nalgonda town oversaw the attendance of all senior leaders including BRS working president K T Rama Rao, T Harish Rao, and several other former cabinet ministers and leaders of the BRS’ parliamentary party, in a show of strength ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
KRMB row
The agreement of both Telugu states to transfer the control of the Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam projects to the Union government’s Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has become a significant political controversy in the state.
Telangana Assembly passes resolution
The Telangana Assembly passed a resolution on Monday, February 12, placing conditions on the takeover of these projects, emphasizing the state’s refusal to hand over control unless the Union government agrees to the conditions set by the state government.
Telangana Assembly on Monday passed a resolution saying the state shall not hand over control of common projects to KRMB unless the conditions put forth by the state are fulfilled.
The Assembly also requested the Government of India to withdraw the CRPF and hand over the control of the Project to the Telangana government.
The resolution was passed unanimously after Irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy made a PowerPoint presentation on Krishna projects, followed by a marathon debate which saw the ruling Congress and main opposition BRS accusing each other of hurting the state’s interests.
The ruling party alleged that it was BRS that had agreed to hand over Krishna projects to the Centre and even allowed Andhra Pradesh to go ahead with illegal projects.
The BRS claimed that the resolution was its first victory. Its leaders said the government came forward to pass the resolution after it announced a protest meeting at Nalgonda.
