CWC removes news clipping on Centre’s statement on KLIS

Hyderabad: Trolling by supporters of BJP appears to have prompted the Central Water Commission (CWC) to remove a tweet endorsing a statement made by union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad in Parliament on Monday, saying loans for Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) were given as per the norms laid down by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Karad, responding to a question raised by Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy in Lok Sabha, said Public Sector Banks had approved the loans for KLIS as per RBI guidelines. All the term loans, including those availed for the project, were approved based on technical feasibility, financial/commercial viability and bankability of the project, he said.

The CWC, which gave all approvals for the KLIS, posted a news clipping which appeared in Telangana Today based on the union Minister’s statement, on its official Twitter handle. This triggered a political cyber war between supporters of the TRS and BJP.

While TRS supporters shared the tweet widely to counter the false propaganda spread by the Opposition parties against the State government, BJP supporters kept objecting to the CWC sharing the news clipping. The CWC’s action irked the BJP supporters since the tweet was posted the same day when union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat termed KLIS as an illegal project.

Some BJP supporters complained to Telangana BJP leaders as well as some union Ministers against the CWC by tagging them on social media platforms. They did not seem to realise that the statement was made by a union Minister in Lok Sabha and the CWC had merely shared it.

Nonetheless, the CWC removed the post on Wednesday, triggering another bout of political debate. The TRS supporters accused the BJP government at the Centre of pressurising the Commission to delete the tweet. Those who saved the tweet shared it on the social media even as ”Shame BJP” trended online.