KCR to take on Centre, State for Telangana’s control over Krishna projects

Appealing to the party workers to gear up for a new phase of agitation, he made it clear that there would not be any compromise on riparian rights of Telangana that were hard earned.

Hyderabad: Sounding a stern warning to the Central and State governments that Telangana would stand to lose a great deal in terms of its entitlement to Krishna river water once the operational control of Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam projects was conceded to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), BRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday declared that he would go to any extent to safeguard the interests of Telangana.

Appealing to the party workers to gear up for a new phase of agitation, he made it clear that there would not be any compromise on riparian rights of Telangana that were hard earned. Emotions ran high at the Telangana Bhavan, which was thronged by party workers in large numbers as the party chief returned to the BRS headquarters after a gap of three months following his recovery from a total hip replacement surgery. He was accorded a rousing welcome by them.

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Chandrashekhar Rao then had a detailed interaction with elected representatives from the BRS, party leaders and functionaries from Khammam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy – all part of the command area of the Krishna basin projects, and dispelled their fears of deprival in case of the projects being handed over to the KRMB.

As the first step in the direction of initiating the rank and file of the party into battle mode, he announced that a public meeting would be held in Nalgonda on February 13 with massive mobilisation of the public from all parts.

He said BRS workers would be playing a decisive role in spearheading the new phase of the agitation intended to fight the government for Krishna water. The State government, because of its ill-advised moves had put the districts in the command area of Krishna projects at stake. A resolution was adopted at the meeting pledging all support to the fight for the protecting the State’s right over the Krishna waters.

The BRS had fought relentlessly for the State’s share of the river water as part of the Statehood movement. Even after realising Telangana State, the BRS government did not part with its control over the joint projects and their outlets during the last 10 years.

Once the State control over Nagarjuna Sagar dam was handed over to the KRMB, Telangana would be in for a trying time as it would not be able to meet its drinking water needs, Chandrashekhar Rao cautioned.

BRS working president KT Rama Rao, former Ministers T Harish Rao, G Jagadish Reddy, S Niranjan Reddy, P Sabitha Indra Reddy, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, V Srinivas Goud, Puvvada Ajay Kumar and Satyavathi Rathod were among those who were present.

Chandrashekhar Rao held a meeting with party leaders from Nalgonda, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts at his Nandinagar residence on Tuesday evening. He discussed the arrangements to be made for the “Chalo Nalgonda” programme.