Congress has been Telangana’s bane right from 1956, says KCR

Accusing the government of not releasing water to help save crops under the Nagarjunasagar Left Canal, the former Chief Minister says this was the first time that crop withering had occurred since the formation of a separate Telangana State

BRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao commencing a State-wide ‘bus yatra’ for the Lok Sabha elections, at Telangana Bhavan, in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao launched a vitriolic attack on the Congress on Wednesday, accusing it of being the “main enemy of the people of Telangana” and heaping injustice and discrimination on it right from 1956, when its government at the Centre had forcibly merged the then Hyderabad State with Andhra to form Andhra Pradesh.

Participating in a roadshow at Miryalguda and Suryapet in support of the BRS candidate for Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat Kancharla Krishna Reddy, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said the people of Telangana, particularly the farming community, were a highly dejected lot for the last few months as the Congress government had failed to save the standing crop under Nagarjunasagar Left Canal by not releasing water.

“This was for the first time since the formation of Telangana State that a crop withered due to lack of irrigation water under the Left Canal,” the former Chief Minister said.

“The Congress government had handed over the management of the Nagarjunasagar project to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), something which my government had prevented,” he added.

He sought to know from the government why problems in power supply and water management had cropped up immediately after the Congress came to power. “The two Ministers from Nalgonda district have only one objective — to criticise KCR. They have no time to think about the issues of farmers,” Mr. Rao said.

‘A.P. took our water’

He accused the government of remaining mum while Andhra Pradesh had siphoned off 5 tmc ft of water from Pedda Devulapalli (Nagarjunasagar tailpond), even as farmers in Nalgonda were deprived of water with their crops withering as a result.

He welcomed the news that the National Green Tribunal had allowed issuance of fresh terms of reference for appraisal of the 4,000-MW Yadadri Thermal Power Project, and said it was for the government to speed up work and complete the project.

On his way to Miryalguda, his vehicle was stopped at Arjalabavi by farmers who told him that they had brought their paddy to the purchase centre there 20 days ago, but it was yet to be procured. Later, at Thipparthi and Nakrekal on the way to Suryapet, Mr. Rao he said the Congress party had made 420 promises and failed to keep any of them, except for a few.