Water war refuses to die

Hyderabad: The water war that began on Monday is likely to turn into a high octane political drama from Tuesday. While BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao will address a public meeting in Nalgonda charging the Congress government of having compromised the interests of the state which was achieved after a long-drawn struggle with three main demands, water, employment and resources, the government wants to expose the BRS of causing irreversible damage to the state regarding water the Krishna river water.

The government also wants to present the vigilance report to the Assembly on the defects in the designing and execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift irrigation scheme which had led to sinking of the piers from 16 to 20 resulting in huge loss to the exchequer. A delegation of all Congress MLAs, MLCs and Ministers led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy would be visiting the project site on Tuesday. Though Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy wrote a letter to members of all parties to join the visit, BRS has refused to go saying they have a public meeting in Nalgonda. The BJP also refused to accept the invitation of the government.

On the other hand, KCR is likely to announce the party’s future course of action like holding dharnas and agitations over this issue. He will give a call for another ‘Jung’ (prolonged war) over Krishna water at the Nalgonda meeting.

Interestingly, both sides are blaming each other for having caused injustice to the people of the state. But what both of them have conveniently ignored is a crucial letter dated February 2, 2024 which was given to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat.

The letter was written by BRS MP Nama Nageshwar Rao which said that the Government of Telangana was opposed to handing over rights over Krishna water and reservoir management to KRMB. But the Joint Secretary in the minutes of the meeting of KRMB stated that the state government had agreed. This was in contradiction to the stand of the State Government. What is surprising is that neither side referred to this latest letter has now become a topic of discussion in political circles.