KTR, Harish Rao hit back at Union Minister over Kaleshwaram remarks

BRS leaders KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao strongly countered Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil’s criticism of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, which he termed a waste of Rs 1 lakh crore. Both leaders urged the Union Minister to visit the project site to witness its impact firsthand.

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao and BRSLP deputy leader T Harish Rao gave a strong counter to Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil over his remarks on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. Criticising the project during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha, the Union Minister said Rs 1 lakh crore public money was wasted on the project.

Taking to social media, Rama Rao opined that the Union Minister fell to false narratives of the Congress on the Kaleshwaram project which transformed Telangana’s agrarian landscape. Citing official data, he said paddy production surged, groundwater levels improved, and cultivable land expanded significantly over the past decade because of the project.

---

“I can give a hundred other data points to tell you how Kaleshwaram empowered Telangana. Maybe it’s time to fact-check, sir! (sic)” he said on X, calling it a true national project completed in the last decade.

Referring to the Union government’s Economic Survey 2025-26, the BRS working president pointed to the increase in cultivable land from 1.31 crore acres to 2.2 crore acres, after the construction of the Kaleshwaram project. “You may call it waste to suit your political agenda sir, but for Telangana Kaleshwaram is a massive win,” he said, inviting the Union Minister to visit the project site to assess its impact firsthand.

Harish Rao also pointed to the continued flow of water through Kaleshwaram canals as evidence against allegations of wasteful expenditure. Sharing a selfie with BRS leaders at the project’s canal network, he said the supply of Godavari River waters to regions such as Siddipet and Dubbaka even during the scorching summer indicated the project’s effectiveness.