Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar has accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of having a ‘secret’ understanding with his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on utilisation of Krishna waters and hence, the demand for postponing the meeting called for by the Apex Council to discuss the upcoming projects from August 5 to August 20.
“When the Centre has taken the initiative to call for a meeting of both the States to discuss the illegal projects sought to be constructed by the AP government on the Krishna River to draw water from Srisailam reservoir, why does KCR want it to be put off instead of showing alacrity in protecting the Telangana’s water share? It is ridiculous to put the blame on the Union government for the differences between both States,” he told a press video conference on Friday.
What is the point of having the meeting after the AP government finalises tenders for capacity enhancement of Pothireddypadu and others on August 11, questioned the Karimnagar Member of Parliament. He has been in New Delhi and had met Union Minister for Jalshakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat requesting him to hold the meeting of the Apex Council and the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to stall the proposed AP projects, which he charged went against the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014 and hence, will affect the interests of Telangana.
The TS government’s “negligent attitude” towards protecting the legitimate share of the water resources has been causing grave injustice to the State, he charged and wondered why KCR cannot make time to participate in the meeting when the Centre had taken the initiative to thrash out the issues between both States. “The Chief Minister had feigned ignorance when AP had issued orders to build the illegal projects. He has made it a habit of blaming others and diverting the attention of people from critical issues,” he said.
“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been spending hours on finalising the new secretariat design but no time to attend to meeting called to protect our legitimate water share,” he claimed and accused both the Telugu CMs of instigating people on regional chauvinism even while having “underhand” dealings. Both States had not bothered to respond to repeated communications from the Centre on the sharing of Krishna waters, he claimed.
