“Is this Gurudakshina to Naidu?”: Harish Rao questions Revanth Reddy’s river water pact

Harish Rao rubbished Revanth Reddy's claim that Chandrashekhar Rao had agreed to only 299 TMCft of Krishna water, calling it a blatant lie.

Hyderabad: Former Minister and senior BRS leader T Harish Rao launched a broadside against Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, for allegedly striking a secret pact with his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu over the Banakacherla project.

He said Revanth Reddy’s statements on river water sharing were detrimental to Telangana’s long-term water needs and could cause irreversible damage to its rights.

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He questioned the motive behind not convening an Apex Council meeting and instead opting for direct talks with Chandrababu Naidu.

“This appears to be a pre-fixed agreement. Is this your Gurudakshina for Chandrababu Naidu?” he asked Revanth Reddy.

In a strong counter to Revanth Reddy’s statements in Delhi on Friday, Harish Rao said the Chief Minister seems to have struck a secret deal with his Andhra Pradesh counterpart, disregarding the rightful claim of Telangana.

“Revanth Reddy offering to forego all the available water in both the rivers to Andhra Pradesh, in exchange for a mere 1,000 TMCft in Godavari River and another 500 TMCft from Krishna River, is nothing but a conspiracy to restrict Telangana’s rights over both the rivers,” he said.

The former Irrigation Minister reminded that former Chief Minister and BRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao had demanded 1,950 TMCft from 3,000 TMCft of unutilised water discharged into the sea, in addition to 968 TMCft allocation from net available water. However, he said Revanth Reddy is planning to restrict Telangana to just 1,000 TMC ft in contrast to Chandrashekhar Rao’s demand for a total 2,918 TMCft to Telangana in Godavari River.

Harish Rao rubbished Revanth Reddy’s claim that Chandrashekhar Rao had agreed to only 299 TMCft of Krishna water, calling it a blatant lie. He reiterated that the BRS government had filed an affidavit before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal seeking 763 TMCft and had been fighting for it with strong legal arguments.

He condemned the Chief Minister’s statements in this regard as factually incorrect and misleading. He felt sorry for Revanth Reddy’s lack of understanding the difference between final award by tribunal and adhoc agreement on Krishna River water sharing with Andhra Pradesh.