Will fight till last breath for Telangana’s rights, says KCR

Launching a fiery broadside against the handing over of Krishna river projects to the Centre, BRS president and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday vowed to fight like a tiger until his last breath and ensure an equal share of Krishna river waters to Telangana.

Demanding the Congress government here to lead an all-party delegation to the Centre to pressurise it for allocation of Krishna river waters to Telangana within the next six months, Chandrashekhar Rao said he would not allow any injustice to Telangana at any cost.

In a well-attended meeting at Nalgonda that saw the crowd sitting in rapt attention and cheering the BRS chief as his speech – emotional and fierce at the same time – progressed with hard-hitting statements at political rivals all along, Chandrashekhar Rao said the ‘Chalo Nalgonda’ meeting was not a mere political meeting, but a warning to those who wanted to rob Telangana of its rightful share in Krishna river waters.

“This is not mere politics, but a matter of life and death for the people of Nalgonda, Khammam, Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy and Hyderabad. The Congress must stop playing its blame game and get its act right to safeguard the interests of people of Telangana. It is time to fight and I will fight like a tiger till my last breath. I will fight even if I’m not well. But I will not sit quiet like a cat,” he said.

The former Chief Minister, who reached the venue in a helicopter, headed to the dais with the support of a walking stick even as the crowd went rapturous. Taking permission from the people to address them from a chair, to which the crowd responded with a huge applause and whistles, Chandrashekhar Rao spoke in detail on the long fight for Telangana’s share in Krishna River waters, pointing out that the then Congress government at the Centre had suggested temporary allocations in Krishna River water between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“We agreed to their conditions to expedite State formation. Later, the Modi government came and I wrote hundreds of letters demanding for equal distribution of Krishna River water. We filed a case in the Supreme Court, but the Centre wanted us to withdraw the case to complete water allocations. The Modi government recently referred the matter to the tribunal,” he said.

Stating that it was now the responsibility of the current State government to pursue the matter with the Centre to safeguard Telangana’s rights, he said the previous BRS government never agreed to give up the projects for nearly 10 years despite the Centre’s pressure. However, the Congress government had served the projects to the Centre on a platter within two months of coming to power. When former Minister T Harish Rao raised the issue, they postponed the discussion on the State budget and introduced a resolution in the Assembly to save their face. There were mistakes even in that, with mentions of only water and irrigation but not electricity, he said.

“The Chief Minister and his Ministers are clueless about the water resources in Telangana. Instead of consulting those with knowledge on these issues, they are trying to blame us. They are not able to understand



that the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation scheme is not just about Medigadda barrage. It has three barrages, 15 reservoirs, 19 power stations, 200 km of tunnels and 1,500 km of canals. The sagging of two or three pillars will not affect the entire project. They can be repaired and operations can be continued as was done when similar issues happened at Nagarjuna Sagar, Kaddam Project and recently the Musi Project too,” he said, adding the BRS too would visit Medigadda after the Assembly session and expose the lies of the Congress.

The BRS chief stated that any government should try to perform better than the previous one and win people’s support. But the Congress government was indulging in a blame game, targeting him.

“They are saying that they will not let KCR move in Telangana. What will you do? Will you kill me? Come. Kill me. Do you think you will survive after killing KCR?” Chandrashekhar Rao asked the Congress, even as video excerpts from the live feed of his speech began going viral on social media, with many pointing out that the “vintage firebrand KCR” was back.

Coming down heavily on the repeated attempts of the Congress to malign the previous BRS government, he said the people had not voted for this. Victory and power are not permanent, he said, declaring that the BRS would return to power with double the speed.

Uninterrupted power supply, Rythu Bandhu and other schemes which continued unabated under the BRS regime, had stopped abruptly after the Congress came to power.

“We succeeded in supplying drinking and irrigation water as well as uninterrupted power. But less than two months after the Congress assumed power, people are witnessing power cuts,” he said, asking the Congress to stop its blame game and instead of focus on completing the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project, the Sitarama project and the Dindi project.

“Nearly 80 per cent of Palamuru-Rangareddy LIS works have been completed. If you have guts, perform better than us. Complete all the ongoing irrigation and power projects to ensure that people of Telangana have adequate water and power supply,” he said, also asking the State government to lift water from Pranahitha using a coffer dam, and to fill the projects under Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme immediately to ensure adequate water for irrigation and drinking water purposes.

Reacting to Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy’s remarks to slap those who complained of not getting Rythu Bandhu assistance with chappals, the BRS president reminded the Minister that even farmers wear chappals.

Stating that this was not the old Telangana, but ‘Tiger Telangana’, Chandrashekhar Rao said the slippers worn by farmers were battle hardened and one smack would be enough to send flying all the teeth of those badmouthing farmers.

“People voted for you. Be in the government for next five years and try to perform better than us. Stop your blame game. As the principal opposition, we will hunt you down if you are incapable of running the government and of continuing the welfare and development of the previous BRS government,” he said.