HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday embarked on a two-day visit to Delhi, during which they will be participating in a meeting of CMs of sibling states of Telangana and AP, convened by the Union government, to discuss river water issues.
The meeting, scheduled to be held on Wednesday, is likely to discuss several irrigation projects proposed on Godavari and Krishna rivers.
It may be mentioned here that the state government has officially written to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, urging it to not include a discussion on Godavari-Banakacherla (G-B) link project in the agenda of the meeting, as requested by the Andhra Pradesh government.
Sources close to Revanth, however, revealed that the Jal Shakti Ministry has not announced the agenda for the meeting.
“Even if the Godavari-Banakacherla project is on the agenda, the chief minister would attend the meeting to strongly oppose the project,” sources added.
A Congress MP told TNIE: “KCR (former chief minister) made a mistake by not attending the Apex Council meeting, and he failed to represent Telangana’s interests on water rights. Revanth Reddy does not want to compromise on Telangana’s rights. He will express his strong protest against the Banakacherla project proposed by the government of Andhra Pradesh.”
Meanwhile, a top official of the Irrigation department expressed confidence that the Union government would consider the requests of the Telangana government.
Speaking to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, he added: “If not, we will have to take a decision... then and there, accordingly.”
It is learnt that on the second day of their visit to the national capital, Revanth and Uttam will meet Union ministers to seek approval and assistance for various development projects in the state.