Pothireddypadu: TRS leaders hard put to defend as opposition charges at it

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government order aimed at drawing water from Pothireddypadu has caused much embarrassment to the Telangana government and TRS leaders are hard put to justify government stance on the issue with daily media briefings.

Ever since the Andhra Pradesh government released the GO to take 85,000 cusecs of water from Pothireddypadu head regulator, the TRS leaders have been on the defensive and are seen trying to convince people that the government would protect the interests of people of Telangana. The TRS leaders mounted counter-attack on the Congress and the BJP leaders, stating that they did nothing when the YS Rajasekhara Reddy government constructed the Pothireddypadu head regulator.

A senior TRS leader feels that the opposition parties, which were all along searching for an issue, had got one with the Pothireddypadu: "Our leadership has to take an immediate action in this regard." Party leaders including Minister V Srinivas Goud, Government Whip K Prabhakar, MLAs C Laxma Reddy, Anjaiah Yadav and Council Chairman G Sukhender Reddy also addressed press conferences on the subject.

A minister had to say that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy deceived them. When asked, Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud said that at a time when Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao was proposing to provide water to Rayalaseema area by linking Godavari and Krishna rivers, the Andhra Pradesh broke their trust. He pointed out TS was constructing projects after consulting with neighbouring states, whereas AP unilaterally brought out a GO to lift waters from Pothireddypadu. He said that though the AP said that they were taking flood waters, the GO proves that they were taking the share of Telangana.

Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy on Saturday said that Andhra Pradesh government cannot take out single drop of water as long as KCR was the Chief Minister.

He said that late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy tried to take out 44,000 cusecs water, but his son was trying to take out 80,000 cusecs. He lashed out at Congress and BJP leaders over their protests. Referring to BJP leader DK Aruna, Sukhender Reddy said that a Congress leader who was minister during the AP government had welcomed the CM with 'harati.' He asked the national parties to clear their stand on the Pothireddypadu. The TRS leaders are saying that the CM would not keep quiet on the issue and would take a decision. The leaders said that government would fight legally against the decision of the AP government.