Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said he is committed to the remarks made against late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy that he was a ‘water thief’ and his decisions damaged the irrigation prospects of Telangana region in the combined Andhra Pradesh.
Addressing a press conference here, he said YSR’s son and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had followed similar tactics and is taking up illegal constructions with Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation and Pothireddypadu projects diverting 7.7 TMC of water daily.
He said despite a stay from the Green Tribunal, AP government is going ahead with the constructions and if completed even Hyderabad city would be deprived of drinking water. Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda and Khammam districts would be severely affected.
Furthering his attack on YSR, Mr. Prashanth Reddy said that YSR government had proposed 71 TMC capacity water projects for Telangana and could not complete them while projects of 131 TMC were proposed and water diverted from the Pothireddypadu scheme.
The Minister rejected the opposition parties charges that Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao had been silent on the issue for the last one year and said the CM had written a letter to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) with all the evidence in February itself. Based on that letter the KRMB had asked AP to stop the projects, he said.
Mr. Prashanth Reddy also attacked the BJP and the Congress blaming them also for the projects in AP. The BJP had never tried to solve the problem at the Centre while the Congress had always ignored Telangana interests, he claimed. Nagarkurnool MLA Marri Janardhan Reddy warned YS Jaganmohan Reddy not to test the patience of KCR, and said the former was extended friendship in good faith but he had lost it. If Jagan continues with his projects, he would meet the same fate of former CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, he said..
Government Whip Guvvala Balraju denied that the Krishna water issue has come up because of the bypoll in Huzurabad.
