VIJAYAWADA: YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) President and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday, accusing him of misleading the public by orchestrating “publicity events” over irrigation projects instead of executing genuine work.
In a detailed post on social media platform X, Jagan criticized the TDP-led government for lifting water using existing pumps from the Purushothapatnam Lift Irrigation Scheme into the existing Polavaram Left Canal, while falsely projecting it as water released directly from the Polavaram reservoir via gravity.
He remarked that beating drums to claim credit for projects initiated and largely completed during the tenure of late YS Rajasekhara Reddy—who oversaw 79 percent of the Polavaram Left Canal works—has become a routine pattern for Naidu.
Jagan alleged that during Naidu’s 2014–19 tenure, hasty and unscientific construction practices damaged the project’s foundation. He asserted that constructing the diaphragm wall before properly diverting river flow through the spillway led to severe structural damage during floods, forcing the subsequent YSRCP government to spend five years rectifying those errors by completing the approach channel, spill channel, spillway, and cofferdams in a systematic manner.
Raising critical questions regarding the project’s scope, the former Chief Minister demanded clarity on the final height of the Polavaram dam.
He questioned why the state government is limiting water storage to 41.15 metres instead of maintaining the original Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 45.72 metres.
He emphasised that unless the dam is constructed to its full height, gravity-based water supply to both the Left and Right canals will remain unachievable, rendering lift schemes unnecessary. Jagan further questioned the government’s commitment to North Andhra, highlighting that the previous YSRCP regime had revised the administrative sanction for the Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi scheme to Rs 17,050.20 crore in 2022.