Former Minister challenges Congress govt on Sitarama Project, calls for open debate

He said while around 90 per cent of the project was completed by the K Chandrashekhar Rao government, the Congress Ministers got an opportunity to inaugurate it.

Hyderabad: Calling out the Ministers for spreading falsehood about the Sitarama project, senior BRS legislator and former Minister G Jagadish Reddy challenged them for an open debate on the issue. He said while around 90 per cent of the project was completed by the K Chandrashekhar Rao government, the Congress Ministers got an opportunity to inaugurate it.

He rebuked Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao for finding fault with the remarks of former Minister and senior BRS leader T Harish Rao that the Congress had no contribution in completing Sitarama project and instead, filed cases to delay it.

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Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan here on Wednesday, Jagadish Reddy questioned why the Congress leaders are upset with Harish Rao’s remarks. He demanded the Congress leaders to prove the statements of Harish Rao wrong. “Since the Congress came to power in December last year, they did not even write a single letter to the Centre with regards to the Sitarama project, while all approvals were obtained by the previous BRS government and 90 per cent of the construction works were also completed,” he added.

The former Minister stated that while the N Kiran Kumar Reddy government in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh emerged as the weakest one, the Revanth Reddy government is proving to be irresponsible. He said unlike the corrupt practices of the Congress where budget estimates were increased by 10-15 times and mobilisation advances were paid much before commencement of the project, former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao took up construction of the Sitarama project with commitment and completed majority works.

Jagadish Reddy said the Congress government handed over the existing irrigation projects on Krishna River to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), only to withdraw its plans after the BRS built up pressure. He questioned the Congress leaders who often praise former Chief Ministers N Chandrababu Naidu and YS Rajasekhar Reddy, to explain whether both the leaders construction any reservoir or irrigation project and supplied water to even a single acre in Telangana.

The BRS legislator dared Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy for an open debate on the status of Telangana projects, asserting that the Congress’s claims about the Sitarama project are entirely false. He accused the Congress government of not supplying adequate water to agriculture, to reduce paddy production and thus, avoid payment of Rs 500 bonus.