Cloudbursts a conspiracy by other countries, claims Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao

Rao, however, stated the claims as unverified and that climate change also leads to such natural calamities

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao claimed that cloudbursts in some parts of India are the result of a conspiracy by some countries.

Rao made the startling statement while on flood inspection at Bhadrachalam, one of the worst affected areas due to the incessant rains and ensuing deluge of the last few days in Telangana.

“We are seeing cloudbursts as a new trend/method. There are conspiracy claims that some foreign countries are triggering cloudbursts deliberately in our country. It has happened earlier in Leh-Ladakh, and Uttrakhand. Now, we have gloomy information that the same is being carried out lately in the Godavari basin,” Rao said on Sunday.

Read | Dramatic scenes of rescue during heavy rains in Telangana

The chief minister however stated the claims as unverified and that climate change also leads to such natural calamities.

KCR's apprehensions were met with a variety of memes on social media and severe criticism from the opposition parties.

"This is totally a silly, immature and unscientific comment of an irresponsible CM. He is trying to divert public attention from failures in flood relief and submergence of ill conceived projects in the state," said senior Congress leader and Nalgonda MP Uttam Kumar Reddy, in an apparent reference to the submergence of pump houses under the TRS government's prestigious Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.

The Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party has called KCR's statements as "delusional" which made the flood affected people also laugh forgetting their miseries for a while.

"KCR seems to have lost his mental balance. He needs to be admitted to a psychiatric care centre immediately," TBJP chief Bandi Sanjay said, while adding KCR is the biggest conspirator in the country.

Bhadrachalam, the abode of the revered Sita Ramachandraswamy, is a famous temple town in Telangana located near the junction of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Several areas including the temple surroundings were inundated by the Godavari flood waters. The river level had risen to around 71 feet on Friday, surpassing the third, final warning level of 53 by about 18 feet. Though the town is protected by an embankment, leakages through the sluices, locals said, has caused the flooding.

Rao has announced Rs 1000 crore allocation for strengthening of the embankment around the temple town, and to provide a permanent solution to the locals frequently troubled by the floods.

The CM has announced Rs 10,000 cash as immediate relief to the flood affected families and 20 kg free rice the next two months, while asking the officials and the public to stay alert for a fortnight as more rains are expected this month.

The chief minister later went on an aerial survey from Bhadrachalam towards Eturu-Nagaram, flying over the overflowing Godavari. Rao inspected the hundreds of submerged villages along the river's course.

Meanwhile, Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also inspected the flood affected areas in the Bhadrachalam-Kothagudem areas on Sunday, interacting with the locals.

Though the flood level at Bhadrachalam is gradually easing, the discharge of about 24 lakh cusecs downstream for the past couple of days has inundated several areas of the Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh. Yanam, part of Puducherry, is also flooded with the Godavari waters.