“Not a drop will reach us”: KTR warns of water crisis over Almatti dam height issue

At a massive rally in Achampet, BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao launched a scathing attack on the Congress government over Karnataka’s decision to raise the Almatti dam height, warning it would devastate Telangana’s irrigation projects.

Hyderabad: Sounding a warning against the impending danger posed by the Karnataka government’s move to further raise the height of the Almatti dam, BRS working president KT Rama Rao said on Sunday that it would adversely impact the Krishna river water flows to both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Addressing a mammoth Jana Garjana rally at Achampet, he said the move to augment the storage capacity by raising its height by five metres in the Karnataka project at a cost of Rs 70,000 crore would turn the arid Palamuru region into a desert, leaving its key irrigation projects including the Kodangal lift irrigation scheme, Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme and even the Srisailam dam totally crippled.

“Not a drop will reach us,” he stated.

Questioning why Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had so far remained silent over the Congress government’s move in Karnataka, he said Revanth was “hiding like a cat at home” instead of opposing it. He challenged the CM to drag Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah to Delhi for a showdown with Rahul Gandhi or face the wrath of BRS’s “pink army.”

“Where’s your spine?” he asked.

Recalling former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s defiant 2001 padayatra against threats issued by a Rayalaseema MLA against the opening up of Sunkesula sluices to take water to Telangana, he said Chandrashekhar Rao had responded by vowing to “raze the Sunkesula barrage with a thousand explosives” and safeguard the irrigation interests of the Telangana farmers.

Questioning the stand of Revanth Reddy on the crucial Krishna waters issue, he said Revanth Reddy was out to cling to power even if it amounted to playing into the hands of the Karnataka counterparts.

Slamming Revanth Reddy’s silence, he said the Chief Minister was keeping quiet to safeguard his position, influenced by “Karnataka Congress conspiracies”.

Mocking Revanth’s self-proclaimed “black panther” image, Rama Rao said Revanth Reddy was no black panther, but just a cat. He accused the Congress of sidelining the nearly 90% complete Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation project during the BRS regime out of envy towards Chandrashekhar Rao, and criticised renaming it after Congress leader S Jaipal Reddy, who had no connection to the project. Under the BRS, the Kalvakurthi lift had irrigated 90,000 acres in Achampet constituency, and Rs 1,350 crore was sanctioned for the Achampet lift to cover another 70,000 acres. Yet Revanth Reddy, who calls himself Achampet’s son, has abandoned it, he charged.

Turning to unfulfilled promises, Rama Rao said under the Kalyana Lakshmi scheme alone, Revanth Reddy owed eight lakh gold mangalsutras to eight lakh girls, adding that it was to remind the people of these promises that the BRS had launched the ‘Congress Dues Card’ campaign.

“Show this card to Congress leaders begging for votes and ask when they’ll pay up. Even if they offer Rs 5,000 for votes or make you swear oaths, remember their empty promises and vote wisely. It’s your Brahmastra,” he said.

Rama Rao also condemned Revanth’s “foolish antics” and “vulgar language” as tarnishing Telangana’s image. “One day he’s a poor farmer’s son, the next a police Patel’s grandson – there’s a stranger in him,” he mocked, decrying phrases like “I’ll eat eggs and fight” or “I’ll tie snakes around necks” as repulsive.

Revanth Reddy’s claims of State bankruptcy while dodging promises and questions on whether he would be skinned alive exposed his immaturity, he said, urging voters to “politically bury” such leaders in elections and teach the “Revanth sarkar” a lesson through the local polls for its “empty promises and abusive words.”