KCR attacks Naidu over water row

Breaking his silence for the first time on the ongoing controversy over sharing Krishna water, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao blasted his  Andhra Pradesh (AP) counterpart Chandrababu Naidu for his double standards.

“Chandrababu Naidu is like Satan for Telangana. He is hell-bent on drying up Telangana lands,” Rao said. Telangana must get 54 per cent of the power produced in AP, including the power generated in the Seeleru project and the new thermal station at Krishnapatnam, he added. 

Rao told a press conference at the secretariat following a three-hour-long cabinet meeting on Friday that AP has so far withheld 82 million units of power that belonged to Telangana. Quoting provisions enshrined in the AP Reorganisation Bill, Rao said that the Telangana government may drag the AP government to the Supreme Court for not sharing power with Telangana. 

“Let Naidu bring his papers and I will bring mine; let’s sit near the Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada and debate,” Rao said, throwing the gauntlet at Naidu.

Rao said that it was the order issued during Naidu’s regime that allowed the Telangana government to produce power till the storage level reached 834 feet in the Srisailam reservoir. “Then why this hue and cry even when the level is only 854 feet? When he was the chief minister, he produced power till the reservoir levels touched 779 feet,” Rao said. 

The Telangana government will also write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention in the issue. 

Rao said the Centre should not be playing the role of a spectator while AP has been violating the spirit of the Reorganisation Act.  In another development, the Telangana government has announced that it will not honour any river water agreement reached when the state was part of AP. The government decision is mentioned in a letter to the Krishna Water Management Board.