Will move a privilege motion for holding closed-door meeting: BRS

Former Minister and senior BRS leader Harish Rao said his party will move a privilege motion in both the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council against Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for holding a ‘closed-door’ meeting on irrigation projects and water rights with Congress legislators at Praja Bhavan on Wednesday.

“Instead of holding an open discussion, it is shameful that the CM lacked the courage to call for an open discussion. This is a blatant insult to democratic values and a breach of legislative privileges,” he said, in a press release.

Strongly condemning Mr. Revanth Reddy’s ‘baseless and misleading’ statements regarding irrigation and water rights in Telangana, he tried to turn the tables accusing the Congress government of ‘mortgaging Telangana’s rightful share of water resources’ and attempting to ‘mislead people with fabricated data and staged presentations’.

The senior BRS leader said people are ‘laughing’ at the government for ignoring farmers’ demands for water supply by activating irrigation pumps and instead focusing on ‘propaganda-filled PowerPoint presentations’. He accused Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka of exposing their ignorance yet again by ‘parroting falsehoods’.

“Unable to confront the truth, you are trying to deceive Telangana with false statistics and misinformation. The entire Telangana society is disgusted by the repeated lies and betrayal of Congress,” said Mr. Harish Rao. The former Minister contested the government’s claim of irrigating 50 lakh acres in united A.P. and called it an ‘absolute lie’. “If you have the courage, show us the evidence. The reality is that BRS irrigated 48.74 lakh acres in just nine-and-a-half years. This is confirmed even in the Irrigation department’s official reports given to you,” he claimed.

“It was the Congress government which had abandoned the Pranahita-Chevella project because of its own ‘inefficiency’ and accepted to an unfair 299:512 Krishna water sharing ratio pre-bifurcation. Whereas the KCR government had submitted affidavits for 573 TMC to the tribunal,” he claimed.

Mr. Rao also accused the CM of ‘sabotaging’ the Medigadda Barrage for not taking up repairs despite ‘NDSA’s recommendation and L&T’s readiness’. The government is now ‘conspiring’ to transfer Godavari and Krishna rivers’ waters to Andhra Pradesh via Banakacherla, he added.