The Hindu : Naidu to lead all-party team to Karnataka

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Naidu to lead all-party team to Karnataka

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD JULY 16. The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, will lead an all-party delegation to Bangalore to make out a strong case with his Karnataka counterpart, S.M. Krishna, for the flood-flow/parallel canal from Thungabhadra dam at Hospet.

Andhra Pradesh wants the canal in lieu of the alleged loss of its share from Thungabhadra (TB) due to early surplussing of the dam caused by heavy siltation and unauthorised drawals by Karnataka.

The announcement to lead a delegation to Bangalore was made by Mr. Naidu himself in the Assembly this morning when doubts were expressed by Congress(I) members, especially those belonging to Anantapur district, about the Government's commitment to the dream project.

The Chief Minister offered to telephone Mr. Krishna tomorrow morning from his chamber in the Assembly premises, seeking time to meet him, if the Congress leader, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, made himself available.

The issue cropped up following a question put forth by two Telugu Desam members — P. Raghunatha Reddy and G. Babu Rao — alleging unauthorised drawals by Karnataka which snowballed into a noisy debate over "injustices'' done by that State.

Three Congress members — M. Sikhamani, M. Mareppa and M. Thippeswamy — moved on to the podium and tried to stage a dharna protesting the `injustices' and seeking action by the Government to rectify the situation.

They, however, relented after an assurance from the Chief Minister.

Mr. Naidu told the House that he had made umpteen pleas to Mr. Krishna about the canal project but the latter rejected even the proposal for a preliminary investigation.

The Chief Minister stated that regarding the issue of drinking water shortage in Kurnool, he had telephoned a dozen times after which Mr. Krishna agreed to compensate the loss suffered by Andhra Pradesh due to overdrawals by Karnataka and released waters from Thunga and other projects.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy, M. V. Mysoora Reddy and J. C. Diwakar Reddy of the Congress pulled up the Government for not being alert to the overdrawal. Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy contended that the overdrawal could have been avoided if the Government was awake and wondered whether the Chief Minister was "sleeping then.''

This remark sparked a furore and skirmishes between the Telugu Desam and Congress benches with the former alleging that no justice was done to the State even when the Congress was in power in both the States.

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