The ongoing controversy over power generation and sharing between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh States has taken a drastic turn with Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao blaming his AP counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu of denying Telangana its rightful share of power.
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao held Mr. Naidu squarely responsible for the power crisis in Telangana by violating the AP Reorganisation Act, directions of the Central Electricity Authority and AP Electricity Regulatory Commission on power sharing and power purchase agreements (PPAs). He said that Telangana would move the Supreme Court seeking compensation from AP for not sharing power as recommended in the Reorganisation Act.
In his post-Cabinet briefing late on Friday night, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao launched a trenchant attack against Mr. Naidu and spared no words against him. In a serious allegation against Mr. Naidu, he said the former had “threatened” the Hinduja power plant promoter against sparing power for Telangana. “Ashok Hinduja had complained to me about Mr. Naidu’s threat,” he said. He asserted that Telangana would not stop power generation at Srisailam as it had a share of 97 tmcft water in Krishna river above the reservoir, but it was using only 16.8 tmcft in four projects. “We have no intention of stopping power generation there as 300 MW offered by AP is no match for 900 MW being generated by us to save the standing crops,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
He accused Mr. Naidu of “running false propaganda against Telangana” on the issue of power generation and reeled out a whole lot of statistics in support of his argument.
He also expressed his preparedness for a debate with Mr. Naidu on the issue of power either at Nehru statue in Abids here or on the Prakasam Barrage at Vijayawada.