HYDERABAD: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy and BRS member KR Suresh Reddy were engaged in a heated debate on Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Participating in the debate, Suresh Reddy found fault with the BJP leaders’ adverse remarks against the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) and demanded that Union Minister CR Patil withdraw the comments he made against the project.
Finding fault with Patil for stating that Rs 1 lakh crore was washed away in Kaleshwaram, Suresh Reddy said that KLIS comprises several barrages and other works. “Only two pillars of the project had sunk,” he added.
Alleging that Patil misled the House on Kaleshwaram, he said that it was a breach of privilege. The Union minister should apologise or the Chair should remove Patil’s comments from the record, he said.
The BRS member alleged that some mandals of Telangana were merged with Andhra Pradesh without the consent of the people of the Telangana. There was no discussion when Telangana mandals were merged with AP, Suresh Reddy pointed out.
He also recalled the past statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the bifurcation of AP that “mother was killed to keep the child alive”.
Suresh Reddy said that the AP Reorganisation Act should not be turned into a Bill to reconstruct AP. He even alleged that the Union government had not been extending any help to Telangana in the last 12 years. He demanded implementation of pending assurances in the APRA, 2014.
Reacting to this, Union Minister Kishan Reddy said that an expert committee had declared the Medigadda project was “unusable” and alleged that “KCR’s family used the Kaleshwaram project as an ATM”.
“CR Patil only mentioned the experts opinions and the comments of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG),” Kishan Reddy said.
“The project was undertaken without even consulting engineers. Rs 1 lakh crore of public money was spent arbitrarily by the KCR government,” he alleged.
The Union minister further said that the money spent on Kalehshwaram was “not brought from Dubai but it was public money”.
He also sought to know “what Revanth Reddy has done so far despite promising to send KCR to jail”.
Kishan Reddy also said that KCR government had approved the merger of seven mandals of Telangana with AP.
Congress member Renuka Chowdhury said that the assurances given in the AP Reorganisation Act were not implemented so far and the assets of various combined institutions were not apportioned so far. “The railway coach factory assurance was not fulfilled in Telangana,” she said.