‘Power’ struggle takes a bitter turn

Irate TRS activists set ablaze TDP office in Nalgonda.

October 22, 2014 12:23 am | Updated November 17, 2021 03:49 am IST - HYDERABAD - NALGONDA:

The TDP office that was set afire in Nalgonda on Tuesday. Photo: Singam Venkataramana

The TDP office that was set afire in Nalgonda on Tuesday. Photo: Singam Venkataramana

Contentious sharing of water and electricity between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh turned murkier on Tuesday with major political parties getting into an agitation mode.

The day saw TRS workers led by local leader Dubbaka Narasimha Reddy burning the effigy of AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in Nalgonda protesting Naidu’s move of writing a letter to the Krishna River Water Board requesting it to suspend power generation at Srisailam Project. Later, they took out a rally that culminated at the TDP office, poured petrol on the floor and set the office on fire.

On hearing the news, the police rushed to the spot and took the TRS activists into custody.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Narasimha Reddy alleged that the Andhra Pradesh government deliberately reduced power generation in a majority of thermal projects in AP with an intention to create hurdles for the Telangana government in supplying power.

“The Telangana government was generating hydro power from Srisailam and the AP government has nothing to do with it,” he said.

TRS activists in Warangal district also burnt the effigy of Naidu and organised various protest programmes.

In Hyderabad, the TRS legislators staged a dharna at Ambedkar statue on Tank Bund. They blamed Mr. Naidu with conspiring to deprive people of Telangana of their rightful share of electricity. They pointed out that G.O. No. 69 that was issued when Mr. Naidu was Chief Minister of erstwhile AP stipulated that up to 834 feet level at the dam, power generation was possible and only when the level dipped further could the need to provide for drinking water applied. The current level in the reservoir was about 860 feet, they said.

On Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party stepped up its attack on the TRS Government’s failure to tackle the power crisis by holding demonstrations across Telangana. BJP State President G. Kishan Reddy and other leaders were arrested while staging a dharna before the Ranga Reddy collectorate here.

TDP calls for bandh Meanwhile, TDP leaders led by Nalgonda district president K. Bilya Nayak burnt the effigy of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao holding him responsible for the attack on TDP office. They have also called for Nalgonda bandh on Wednesday.

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