Harish Rao accuses Revanth Reddy of misleading Telangana on water rights

Former Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao criticised Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy over his remarks on Telangana’s water rights, citing KRMB records on Krishna water utilisation and accusing the Congress government of delaying the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme

Hyderabad: BRS Legislature Party deputy leader and former Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao criticised Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for making misleading statements on Telangana’s water rights and utilisation. He said the Chief Minister acted irresponsibly, lacked a basic understanding of Telangana’s Krishna water utilisation and was misleading the public to cover up his government’s failures.

Responding to the Chief Minister’s remarks during the Palamuru tour on Friday, Harish Rao cited official records submitted by the Telangana government to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on water utilisation. As per the records, Andhra Pradesh utilised 74.23 per cent of Krishna waters against Telangana’s 25.77 per cent. He referred specifically to a letter sent by the Telangana Engineer-in-Chief to the KRMB on May 2, 2026, and challenged the Chief Minister to refute the figures.

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He questioned whether Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy were unaware of their own government’s official communications. “Such ignorance is damaging not only to Palamuru, but also to Telangana’s water rights,” he said.

The former Minister accused the Congress government of failing to protect the State’s interests despite completing nearly half of its term. He said Revanth Reddy was spreading half-truths and falsehoods to deflect attention from delays in completing the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, a project designed to irrigate 12.3 lakh acres and supply drinking water to 1,226 villages in the region.

Harish Rao recalled that despite the Congress filing court cases against the project, the then BRS government overcame legal hurdles and pressed ahead. He said the BRS government completed 90 per cent of the works and acquired 27,191 acres for the project despite the Congress creating hurdles. He demanded that the ruling Congress disclose how much land had been acquired and how much project work had been executed in the last 30 months.

The BRSLP deputy leader said that during the BRS regime, irrigation projects including Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, Bhima and Koilsagar had expanded irrigation coverage from 27,000 acres in 2014 to nearly 6.5 lakh acres in 2023, with the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district witnessing irrigation coverage of around 10 lakh acres. He credited the K Chandrashekhar Rao government with reversing migration from the Palamuru region by completing pending projects.

He said not a single check dam had been built in the past 30 months and urged the Chief Minister to study official data before making public statements. “A government elected on promises cannot survive on continued misinformation,” he remarked.