Harish Rao accepts Revanth Reddy’s challenge; says BRS did not hand over projects

Harish Rao said that during the ten years of the BRS regime, notwithstanding the pressure exerted by the Centre, no irrigation project was handed over to the KRMB

Hyderabad: Accepting the challenge thrown by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for a debate in the Assembly on the handing over of irrigation projects, BRS MLA and former Minister T Harish Rao on Sunday said his party would give a befitting reply that would leave Congress leaders fumbling for answers.

Responding to the Chief Minister while speaking at the BRS LB Nagar Assembly constituency meeting, Harish Rao said that during the ten years of the BRS regime, notwithstanding the pressure exerted by the Centre, no irrigation project was handed over to the KRMB.

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“We laid down the condition that 50 percent share of water should be given, Srisailam should be recognized as a hydel project and only 20 percent of drinking water should be taken into account. Even before two months of being in office, the Congress government has handed over the projects putting the interests of the people of Telangana at stake,” he said, stating that Revanth Reddy had no knowledge of the subject and was hence spitting venom.

Wasn’t it the Congress government that passed the Bill to hand over the projects to the Centre during State bifurcation he asked.

“It was the late S Jaipal Reddy and Jairam Ramesh who drafted the AP Reorganisation bill. Revanth Reddy has no idea on irrigation matters and he is talking in a cheap manner without understanding facts,” Harish Rao said,

Holding the Congress government’s ill-advised moves squarely responsible for losing the jurisdictional control over the Krishna basin projects, he said the decision to handover the project to the KRMB would trigger a drinking water crisis. Hyderabad would face drinking water issues. If the projects were handed over to the KRMB, not just Hyderabad, but Khammam, Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar too would irrigation and drinking water issues, he added.

Stating that Revanth Reddy was not qualified to talk about Pothireddypadu, he said Revanth Reddy was in TDP at that time and had kept silent. The Congress outbursts against the BRS were solely aimed at covering up its own blunders, he said.

“We fought hard in the Assembly against Pothireddypadu. We stalled the Assembly for 30 days when water was being taken to Pothireddypadu. We have a history of throwing ministerial posts within a year,” he said, also pointing out Revanth Reddy’s abusive language.

On Sunday morning, former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had advised Revanth Reddy on sobriety in politics and a few hours later, the Chief Minister was abusing his political rivals using cheap and vulgar language.

Pointing out that the Congress had slipped away from discussions stating that they were not prepared, he said the BRS was not like that.

“We are not like that, we will boldly come to the discussion. They are talking the same way they used to talk when they were in the opposition,” he said.