Krishna water sharing: Congress playing into hands of Andhra, says Jagadish Reddy

Former Minister G. Jagadish Reddy launched a scathing attack on the Congress-led Telangana government, accusing it of compromising the state's interests in Krishna river water sharing. He challenged Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to a public debate and criticised the SLBC tunnel survey as political theatre.

Hyderabad: Former Minister G. Jagadish Reddy accused the Congress government of playing into the hands of Andhra Pradesh rulers in sharing the river waters.

Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan on Tuesday, he challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to a public debate on Krishna river water allocations and alleged that the current regime was prioritising political alliances over the State’s interests.

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Reddy mocked the aerial electromagnetic survey for the already commenced SLBC tunnel project and the much ado being made about it by Revanth Reddy and his colleagues from Nalgonda district by calling it a “first-of-its-kind technical survey’. He said the SLBC project had received setbacks only during the Congress regime and later under the TDP regime in the undivided AP.

Citing historical data pertaining to water allocations made from 2013 to the region, he questioned why the Congress had failed to ensure drawing of water from the Krishna basin as per the State’s entitlement. Telangana was allotted 299 TMC of Krishna river water, compared to 512 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.

He dismissed Revanth Reddy’s claim that former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and former Minister T. Harish Rao was responsible for the Krishna water sharing in the present pattern.

Reddy defended Chandrashekhar Rao’s tenure, stating that after becoming Chief Minister, he pushed for a commission to secure Telangana’s Krishna water share. He accused the Congress of initiating SLBC works without proper surveys, allegedly to siphon commissions. “They couldn’t even retrieve bodies trapped in the SLBC, yet they shamelessly lecture us,” he said, recalling the past incidents.

Reddy highlighted that Chandrashekhar Rao had raised SLBC concerns in the Assembly in the presence of Congress leaders like Jana Reddy and Uttam Kumar Reddy. He pointed to stalled projects like Udaya Samudram, where “not a drop of water has reached the ayacut’, and questioned the role of the ministers from Nalgonda.

“For two years, 500 TMC of water from the Krishna River entitlement has not reached Telangana. What have they done? Revanth Reddy is handing over our Godavari waters as ‘gurudakshina’ to Chandrababu Naidu,” he alleged.

Reddy asserted that Revanth lacked the credentials to discuss projects like Bhima, Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, and Koil Sagar. “His old guru is N Chandrababu Naidu, and his new one is the Congress high command. Yet water hasn’t reached drought-hit Palamuru,” he said.