HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is expected to leave for Delhi after July 4 to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on the Krishna water row. The tussle between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has been triggered by AP government’s decision to continue with the construction of Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project (RLIP) and the right canal of Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme, despite Telangana government’s protests against the same.
The Chief Minister, at the Cabinet meeting held during the third week of June, expressed serious displeasure over AP’s “illegal” projects and decided to take up the issue with the Prime Minister and the Jal Shakti Minister. In the wake of AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday, Chandrasekhar Rao is understood to have decided to undertake a journey to Delhi to explain the State’s perspective to Modi and request the latter to rein in Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, top Irrigation officials held a brainstorming session on Friday and discussed various inter-State water issues including the contents of the letter written by the AP Chief Minister.
According to sources, if deemed necessary, the Chief Minister may also lead an allparty delegation to Delhi to fight against the sibling State’s “illegal” projects. The Chief Minister may leave for Delhi after his visit to Sircilla on July 4. Telangana, which filed a petition in the Supreme Court to withdraw the case filed under Section 3 of the Inter-state River Water Disputes Act, 1956 (IRWDA), may also ask the Central government to immediately give orders for fresh allocation of Krishna waters between Telangana and AP. Telangana is demanding 530 tmcft of assured water in Krishna against the present allotment of 299 tmcft.