HYDERABAD: BRS leader and former irrigation minister T Harish Rao on Thursday fumed at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for “spewing tmcfts worth of lies” and “thousands of cusecs of ignorance” on irrigation projects.
Reacting to remarks made by the chief minister earlier in the day, Harish Rao alleged that Revanth Reddy became a brand ambassador of lies and he deserves an Oscar if an award is constituted for uttering lies.
“The chief minister’s statements proved that he lacks basic knowledge over river basins. He can’t differentiate between the Bachawat Tribunal and Brijesh Kumar Tribunal,” he said.
“While inviting KCR to attend the Assembly session, Revanth Reddy compared him with Kasab. That means that Revanth Reddy has no culture or decency. He knows only uncivilised language, uses abusive words and makes vulgar speeches,” Harish Rao alleged.
“Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, Revanth Reddy acts like a dignified person but at the same time, makes wild statements like hanging and stoning KCR and me to death,” he added.
Alleging the chief minister had failed to give direct replies to his questions on irrigation, he said: “Beating around the bush, Revanth Reddy spoke about other issues. He failed to give a proper reply to a question on AP’s proposed Polavaram-Nallamalasagar Link Project.”
Harish Rao questioned why Revanth Reddy attended a meeting held by Ministry of Jal Shakti and why he agreed to constitute a committee on interstate water issues. “Why Revanth Reddy did not make public the information about Central government constituting a committee on Godavari diversions and other contentious issues with AP?” he wondered.
‘Allowed AP to loot TG water’
Allowing the formation of a committee itself was opening doors to allow the AP to loot the Telangana water, Harish Rao said.
He also disputed with the statement of Revanth Reddy that the BRS government agreed only for 299 tmcft share in Krishna river waters. “The BRS government wrote a letter to the Centre just 42 days after forming the government in 2014 with a demand to redistribute 811 tmcft water, allocated to combined AP, between sibling states of AP and Telangana,” he recalled.
“Revanth Reddy is now talking about 71% share in Krishna waters, but KCR demanded 69% share in Krishna way back in 2014,” he added.
Refuting the allegations of the CM, Harish Rao also recalled that it was the BRS government which approached the Suprme Court for fair share in river waters and wrote as many as 28 letters to share 811 tmcft water in 50:50 ration between the sibling states, till the award of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal was published.
He also recalled that KCR fought with the Centre against AP in two Apex Council meetings. By saying so, Harish Rao also released the copies of the minutes of the Apex Council meetings to the media. Harish Rao said that the BRS government withdrew the case in Supreme Court, when the Centre assured to refer the matter under section 3 of the Interstate Water Disputes Act, 1956.
“Don’t you know that the case was withdrawn based on the Centre’s assurance? Why are you hiding this truth and indulging in Goebbels- propaganda,” Harish Rao asked Revanth Reddy.
The BRS leader also questioned Revanth Reddy why the his government declared a crop holiday this year for 5.5 lakh acres under projects, which depended on Jurala. “You said that some intellectual filed cases in the NGT against Palamuru-Rangareddy. Wasn’t that ‘intellectual’ instigated by Congress itself?,” Harish Rao asked Revanth Reddy.