NEWS ANALYSIS: Why did Congress drop the white paper on irrigation?

The State government's decision to drop the idea of presenting another white paper on the Irrigation sector has led to speculations about the ruling Congress party.

Hyderabad: The State government’s decision to drop the idea of presenting another white paper on the Irrigation sector has led to speculations about the ruling Congress party being ill at ease over the whole exercise, as the ploy was actually working out in favour of its rival – the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

There was widespread expectation about another white paper on irrigation being presented in the Assembly on Friday, but unexpectedly, the House was adjourned sine die on Thursday evening after the conclusion of the short discussion on the white paper on the Power sector. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy convened a high level official meeting on irrigation and agriculture sectors.

---

An official release later stated the Chief Minister sought details on construction of irrigation projects, costs of construction and creation of new ayacut from 1956 to 2014 and later from 2014 to 2023. But what surprised everyone was the warning of stringent action against officials if they hide any project details.

Senior officials, sources said, were taken aback at the CM’s tone and tenor. It was not just the warning but it was also mentioned in the press release also, baffling officials and political observers alike, though it was stated that the Chief Minister wanted transparency in every issue to be communicated to the people.

Congress sources were unanimous in conceding that on Wednesday, coordination among the ministers was lacking during the debate on the white paper on State’s finances. Though there was some improvement in this aspect on Thursday, but the general observation was that the BRS managed to effectively counter the onslaught of the treasury benches, especially while highlighting the average power supply being pegged at 19.22 hours per day as mentioned in the white paper.

The treasury benches had indeed mounted a relentless attack on the BRS, but Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s comments that the AIMIM had favoured the BRS in elections deflected the focus with AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi launching a vociferous retaliation. As the verbal duel continued, more ministers got into the discussion and the Speaker had a tough time to convince both sides to focus on the Power sector issue.

Ruling party circles were agog over indications that the Congress high command was not too happy with the strategy of presenting the white papers. Senior Congress leaders who were watching the proceedings on CCTVs from the House premises were briefing the high command on how the ministers fumbled on Wednesday. That the government abruptly dropped the plan of presenting a white paper on Irrigation on Friday and got the House adjourned sine die was at the behest of the party high command was the point of discussion among Congress veterans.