GG News Bureau
Hyderabad, 19th June: Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has launched a political offensive against his predecessor K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu over the proposed Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project, accusing both of compromising Telangana’s water rights and vowing a legal and political fight to protect the state’s interests.
At an all-party meeting held in Hyderabad, Revanth Reddy accused the former KCR-led BRS government of “voluntarily pledging” Telangana’s river water resources to Andhra Pradesh. He backed his charge by screening video clips of KCR offering “excess” Godavari waters to irrigate Andhra Pradesh’s Rayalaseema region, a move Reddy said laid the foundation for Telangana’s current water crisis.
“KCR and Harish Rao deserve to be punished for betraying Telangana,” Reddy said, lambasting the former chief minister and irrigation minister for building projects and barrages that he claimed fail to store or utilise Telangana’s rightful share of river waters. In a pointed jibe at Harish Rao, he likened the collapse of the Medigadda barrage pillar to the heart failing in a human body, saying, “Medigadda is like the heart of Kaleshwaram. You take the heart out, you don’t survive.”
Reddy also targeted Chandrababu Naidu, cautioning him that political proximity to the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not guarantee clearances for the Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project. “We have constitutional rights and legal remedies. Telangana will fight this battle politically, legally, and in the courts if needed,” he said.
The Chief Minister read out minutes from the 2016 apex council meeting between then Union Minister Uma Bharathi, KCR, and Naidu, where the idea of using “3,000 TMC of excess Godavari water” was first floated. He also cited a 2019 meeting where then Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy reiterated the offer of Godavari water to Rayalaseema.
Reddy criticised KCR’s proposal to turn “Rayalaseema into Ratanala Seema (land of gems)” through diversion of Godavari waters at the expense of Telangana, calling it a grievous misstep. BRS MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra objected to the politicisation of the meeting and threatened to walk out, saying the chief minister was using it to target KCR.
On Andhra Pradesh’s claim that the project would utilise 200 TMC of Godavari water currently flowing into the sea to benefit drought-hit Rayalaseema, Reddy countered, “If Naidu believes 3,000 TMC is truly excess, then AP should have no objection to Telangana using its full 968 TMC allocation first.”
He also questioned Union Minister and Telangana BJP leader G Kishan Reddy’s absence from the all-party meeting, asking why he chose to meet the Union Water Resources Minister separately in Delhi on the same day.
Reddy concluded by proposing an all-party delegation to Delhi to register formal objections to the project, calling the Polavaram-Banakacherla plan a direct threat to Telangana’s water security.
