The YSR Congress (YSRC) found itself on the defensive in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday as its members were found wanting in responding to pointed questions raised by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on its stance on the Pattiseema lift irrigation project.
The issue landed the Opposition party in an embarrassing situation as the Chief Minister and ruling party members repeatedly insisted on knowing whether or not the YSRC was in favour of the project. Though YSRC deputy leader Jyothula Nehru tried to explain that the party favoured interlinking of the Krishna and Godavari rivers through the Polavaram project, he did not reply to the specific question as to whether the YSRC favoured the Pattiseema project itself.
Mr. Naidu launched a broadside against the Opposition, claiming that the absence of a policy stance on an important issue like the Pattiseema project exposed the “bankruptcy” of the YSR Congress. In a debate of nearly three hours charactgerised by trading of corruption charges between the treasury and opposition benches, Mr. Nehru charged the Government with misusing funds to build a project that was “purely temporary” in nature .
