Palamur Bandh Total, Opposition Slams TRS

Pink party activists stage protests in district against AP govt; Revanth Reddy accuses KCR of acting on KVP’s advice

HYDERABAD: The bandh called by the ruling TRS against objections raised by the AP government to the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project brought normal life to a standstill in Mahbubnagar district on Friday. The bandh was near total and peaceful.

The day, meanwhile, saw another round of slanging match between the TRS and TDP with the latter’s Kodangal MLA A Revanth Reddy joining the war of words.

The 899 buses in the nine bus depots in the district - Achampeta, Nagarkurnool, Kalwakurthy, Shadnagar, Kollapur, Mahbubnagar, Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Narayanakhed - didn’t move out.

TRS leaders organised sit-ins outside the bus depots barring the movement of buses. Effigies of AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were burnt.

An all-party-meet held at district headquarters saw the participation of all political parties barring TDP. Mahbubnagar TRS MP A Jithender Reddy accused the AP government of ulterior motives in denying water to drought-affected Mahbubnagar by stalling the project. Leaders of other political parties too echoed the same opinion.

While ministers and TRS leaders slammed Naidu for his letter requesting the Union government to deny permission for the Palamuru Lift Irrigation Project, opposition leaders found fault with the ruling party for declaring a bandh.

In Hyderabad, minister Jupally Krishna Rao pointedly asked the Telangana TDP leaders to state whether or not they were okay with the Palamuru Irrigation project.

‘‘I will come to your party headquarters, NTR Trust Bhavan, for a discussion,’’ he told the TDP leaders. From the TDP side, it was their fireband Kodangal MLA Revanth Reddy who hit back at the TRS leadership.

Speaking to reporters for the first time after his release on bail at Kodangal, Revanth Reddy said the ruling party was causing inconvenience to the people. ‘‘After their shocking defeat in local bodies elections in Mahbubnagar, Khammam, Adilabad and Warangal districts, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao came to the conclusion that they could not win again with their administrative skills. That is why they are raising sentiments again for their survival,’’ Revanth Reddy thundered.

Pointing at the letter written by the AP government, Revanth clarified that Naidu did not ever request the Centre to stall Palamuru Irrigation Project.

He sought to know why the State government was behind a new irrigation project while shelving the four earlier projects. ``Invest just `1,000 crore in the four projects that are underway rather than pumping in crores in new ones,’’ he suggested.

 Referring to Harish Rao, the TDP MLA asked him to choose a fast-unto-death protest rather than calling for bandh. ‘‘If you achieve martyrdom with such a protest, I will have your statue erected in Mahbubnagar with my money,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Congress leaders termed the bandh call given by ruling TRS shameful. Congress MLA SA Sampath Kumar advised the TRS to voice its protest in other forms instead of affecting normal life.

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