Telangana: Harish Rao calls for spl Assembly session to discuss water sharing

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T Harish Rao on Friday, July 11, asked Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy to call a special session of the Assembly for discussion on the water sharing dispute with Andhra Pradesh.

“The BRS is ready for such a discussion. The only condition that we want is that microphones should not be switched off when we are speaking, and the House should not be abruptly adjourned,” Rao said in a statement.

The former Telangana minister was responding to the chief minister’s invitation to the BRS for a discussion on river waters. Rao addressed the media after he met with Justice PC Ghose, heading the judicial commission inquiring into the Kaleshwaram project barrages.

Rao took a dig at Revanth over the latter’s PowerPoint presentation on Krishna and Godavari rivers, calling them “coverpoint presentations” that were an attempt to “whitewash 50 years of Congress’ betrayals in Telangana.”

He alleged that the chief minister repeatedly stated that the “permanent ratio of 299:512 tmc ft water-sharing agreement between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh was approved by the then BRS government,” during the presentation on July 9.

The Siddipet MLA further said that annual water use is decided by the Krishna River Management Board. The Krishna Waters Disputes Tribunal does permanent distribution. Utilisation is only for that year, but distribution is permanent.

“Revanth Reddy does not even understand the difference between temporary water utilisation and permanent allocation,” he remarked.

Rao further asked if former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) had signed a permanent agreement, why would he later fight for Section 3. He further asked, that Why would KCR demand a redistribution of Krishna waters based on the 68 per cent catchment area in Telangana

“It was because of KCR’s efforts that the tribunal is now deciding on fair water distribution,” he added.

Rao alleged that Telangana irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy was unaware of the facts. “While our lawyers are arguing that Telangana should get 763 tmc ft of Krishna waters, Uttam says 573 tmc ft is enough. Such statements are nothing short of a betrayal of Telangana’s interests,” he said.