KTR demands equal rights for BRS to present case on river water sharing, irrigation in Assembly

BRS working president KT Rama Rao demanded that the Congress government give the principal opposition an equal opportunity to make a PowerPoint presentation in the Assembly. He criticised the government’s record on irrigation and said democracy demands equal rights for all MLAs

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao demanded that if the Congress government was allowed to make a PowerPoint presentation in the Telangana Legislative Assembly, the principal opposition BRS must be given the same opportunity in the spirit of parliamentary democracy. He asserted that all 120 MLAs enjoy equal rights inside the House.

Interacting with the media at Telangana Bhavan on the first day of the New Year on Thursday, Rama Rao said the BRS was seeking nothing extraordinary, but a fair platform. “Let the government present its version. We will present ours. As the main opposition, we are fully prepared to explain how Telangana’s agriculture and irrigation sectors were transformed during the ten years of BRS rule,” he said.

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The BRS working president recalled that when the then Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao made a PowerPoint presentation in the Assembly on March 31, 2016, the Congress had boycotted the House, terming it against parliamentary tradition. “How did something the Congress called unconstitutional then become acceptable now?” he asked, adding that a formal representation was submitted to the Speaker in this regard.

Coming down heavily on Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, Rama Rao questioned his competence to lecture the Assembly on irrigation and river waters. He ridiculed the Chief Minister for claiming during his Independence Day speech that the Bhakra Nangal project was in Telangana, when it is actually located in Himachal Pradesh. “Should we debate the Godavari and Krishna river waters with a Chief Minister who does not have basic knowledge of river basins and irrigation projects?” he asked.

Listing the Congress government’s failures in the irrigation sector, the former Minister pointed to the collapse of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel, which killed eight workers, whose bodies were not recovered till date. He accused the government of failing to explain the collapse of the retaining wall of the Sunkishala project and of shielding the responsible engineering firm, despite recommendations from officials to blacklist it.

He also slammed the government for remaining a mute spectator while the Vattem pump house was submerged. “Does the Chief Minister want to give a presentation to teach how to blow up checkdams, damage Medigadda and Sunikshala projects, submerge the Vattem pump house and surrender Telangana’s rightful share of Krishna river waters to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB)?” he asked.

Rama Rao said the Congress government had shelved completion of the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme for the past two years, accusing it of betraying farmers, particularly in the Palamuru region. Questioning whether even a single additional acre had received irrigation water under the current regime, he sought to know if the government repaired any irrigation tank or restored any canal in the last two years.

Reiterating that BRS had delivered historic irrigation expansion during its decade-long rule, he said the party was ready to place facts before the Assembly. “Any government that truly respects democracy must give the principal opposition an equal platform,” he said.