Hyderabad: In an unprecedented offer to former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Wednesday declared he was willing to go to the former’s farmhouse in Erravalli village to discuss all issues relating to Krishna and Godavari rivers.
“We are ready to hold a special session of the Legislature if KCR gives the Speaker a date on which he can attend. But if he unable to because of health reasons, then we are ready to go to his farmhouse and hold a mock session there. I will go there with my ministers and officials and let us hold a mock Assembly there,” Revanth Reddy said.
Calling Chandrashekar Rao his senior, Revanth Reddy said, “KCR has vast experience and his involvement in the discussions on river water issues is important and any of his suggestions, if found useful for the state, my government will take them into account. Such a discussion will not be complete without his presence. I urge him to suggest a date for a special session of the Assembly. If he says he cannot make it there, then I am ready for a mock session at his Erravalli farmhouse.”
The Telangana Chief Minister’s unique offer came during his comments at Praja Bhavan after irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy’s presentation on various issues revolving around Krishna and Godavari rivers, and Telangana’s interests and Andhra Pradesh’s efforts to undermine them.
Revanth Reddy also made it clear that Chandrashekar Rao or the BRS need not have any apprehensions about how the former chief minister might be treated in the Assembly if he chooses that option. “As the leader of the House, I am giving an assurance, the proceedings will be conducted with decorum and dignity and there will be no insults or acrimony. I take this responsibility. The government wants to take your suggestions given your vast experience, and will implement them if they will be beneficial to Telangana. All you have to do write to the Speaker suggesting a date and the government will call for the session,” he told Chandrashekar Rao.
“Our entire effort,” Revanth Reddy added, “is to have a meaningful discussion and place all facts before the people. We will take the Speaker’s permission and invite experts and stakeholders to the House.”
Revanth Reddy, who profusely praised Uttam Kumar Reddy for a “comprehensive and fully-fact based presentation,” made it clear that the exercise was not about politics at all. “This is about Telangana’s interests and to protect them, if required we are even ready to pick a fight with God,” he declared.
Taking a dig at BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao and him going to the Press Club to confront him with a discussion, Revanth Reddy, who refused to take the BRS leader’s name saying to do so would be beneath his standing, said he was never one for clubs and pubs. “I have stayed away from them all my life. That is the way I grew up, and others may have grown up in a different way. We are ready for discussions in the Assembly, the proper forum for such debates, not clubs or pubs,” he said.
Revanth Reddy, however, maintained that by repeatedly writing off Telangana’s rights over river water to Andhra Pradesh, Chandrashekar Rao delivered a death warrant to Telangana. “Had KCR and the BRS government focused on the original plan of taking Krishna water from Jurala to Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Scheme, then the present situation of AP gaining upper hand would not have arisen. Telangana would have been able to use water right when Krishna enters the state instead of the present PRLIS offtake after the river meanders through AP, allowing it to rob the water as it pleases, and then what is left enters Telangana,” he said.
“We lost our rights and not gained any benefit from KCR’s approach. And if leaders of the then unified AP deserve one lash of the whip for every decision they took to take water to Seemandhra region, then KCR deserves 100 for each what the then AP leaders deserve,” Revanth Reddy said.
On Godavari river, the Chief Minister said the BRS chief minister had the same attitude allowing AP to run riot with its plans to use the river’s water. “My suggestion is that let there be a discussion with AP on how much surplus water is there, how much flood water might be there. But this, only after Telangana’s needs are taken into account.”
Revanth Reddy said every Congress leader must take the information provided by Uttam Kumar Reddy to the people to counter the aggressive baseless BRS campaign on river water issues, and explain the facts to the people.
