Harish Rao dares Revanth Reddy to attend ‘99 day’ programme without police security

BRS leader T Harish Rao challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to attend the government’s ‘99 Days Pranalika’ programme without police protection, alleging failure to fulfil promises. He also defended the Kaleshwaram project and accused the government of neglecting repair works

Karimnagar: BRS leader and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to come before the public and attend the State government’s ‘99 days’ programme without police protection, stating that people would teach him a befitting lesson for cheating them.

Stating that the Chief Minister had unleashed a new drama in the name of ‘99 Days Pranalika’, Harish Rao questioned what he would tell the public during the programme.

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“Will the CM tell the women that he failed to pay Rs 2,500 per month? Will you tell the farmers that he failed to give Rythu Bandhu and made it impossible for them to get urea?” the BRS leader said, adding that grandparents were living with self-respect only because of the Rs 2,000 pension given by K Chandrashekhar Rao’s government.

Harish Rao made these remarks while speaking to reporters after examining Kaleshwaram water in the Flood Flow Canal near Kurikyal of Gangadhara mandal on Saturday.

Alleging that the Chief Minister had been repeatedly claiming that the Kaleshwaram project had collapsed, he asked whether the water flowing in the Flood Flow Canal was not part of the Kaleshwaram project. Recently, Kaleshwaram water was released into the FFC by operating motors at the Laxmi pump house. He said the FFC had been turned into a reservoir by digging tunnels and installing motors under packages six and eight of the Kaleshwaram project. Instead of utilising project water for irrigation, the Chief Minister was making cheap comments against the project, he alleged.

Harish Rao said the government should repair the Medigadda barrage pillars and utilise the water instead of making such remarks, adding that the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) had also mentioned the need for repairs in its report. Even two years after the NDSA report, the State government was deliberately not taking up repair works, he said, adding that water could be lifted from SRSP to Mid Manair, Yellampalli to Mid Manair and Medigadda to Yellampalli by operating motors, but the State government was deliberately avoiding it.

Terming the Chief Minister’s comments that paddy was being cultivated in the State without the Kaleshwaram project as foolish, he said it was former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao who developed Telangana as the highest paddy-growing State in the country in 2022.

Lakhs of acres in Choppadandi, Jagtial, Korutla, Metpally and Balkonda constituencies were cultivated using Kaleshwaram water, he said, adding that Mid Manair, Ananthagiri, Ranganayakasagar, Kondapochammasagar and Mallannasagar reservoirs were also filled with Kaleshwaram water.

He said the project was not limited to the Medigadda barrage, but comprised more than 100 components, including three barrages, 16 reservoirs, 18 substations, tunnels covering 203 km and gravity canals stretching 1,600 km.

Harish Rao alleged that not a single project had been constructed, canal dug or check dam built during the last two and a half years of the Congress regime. This was when Chandrashekhar Rao had completed reservoirs, tunnels and main canals as part of the Kaleshwaram project. Besides completing the Yellampalli project by spending Rs 2,052 crore, the Rayapatnam bridge was also constructed during the BRS government, he added.