TDP national president and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu stressed the need for A.P. and Telangana to fight together against the irrigation projects being illegally built on the Krishna and Godavari rivers by Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Being the lower riparian States, A.P. and Telangana would face problems if Karnataka and Maharashtra build projects arbitrarily, Mr. Naidu warned and insisted that river waters should be apportioned on the basis of an established formula.
Speaking on a resolution moved by Telangana TDP leader Revuri Prakash Reddy on the ‘wastage of money on re-designing of pending irrigation projects’ at the Mahanadu, Mr. Naidu said it was the TDP which launched all the present irrigation projects in Telangana starting with the Alimineti Madhava Reddy and Sriram Sagar projects and with that spirit successfully executed Devadula, Kalvakurthy, Bhima projects, whereas the TRS ignored the Pranahita- Chevella lift scheme, which was supposed to be declared a national project, and many other schemes. The Congress government had failed to take many projects beyond foundation stage.
Mr. Naidu said the TDP had put up a tough fought against the Babli project taken up by Maharashtra undeterred by the brute force used against its leaders, including the then Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageswara Rao, who was roughed up by the local police.
Similarly, Karnataka’s plan to increase the height of the Almatti dam was thwarted by TDP government, whose stand was vindicated by a five-member committee headed by the then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.
Mr. Prakash Reddy said K. Chandrasekhar Rao took up the redesigning of irrigation projects at huge costs due to some vested interests, by brushing aside the advice of experts not to alter designs in an unscientific manner.
TRS targeted
Commenting on a separate resolution on the ‘promises not fulfilled by the TRS,’ Mr. Naidu said there should be no excuse for it (the TRS government) to renege on its commitments as Telangana was a rich State, unlike A.P. which bore the brunt of bifurcation.
