Hyderabad: Senior BRS leader T Harish Rao criticized the Congress government on Friday, claiming it failed to provide irrigation water to any new farmland during its time in power. He compared this to the BRS party's record, saying it had delivered water to over 50 lakh acres of land during its nine and a half years in office.
Harish Rao made these remarks at the launch of a book written by Sridhar Deshpande, a former irrigation advisor. The book, titled “Ten Years Journey of Telangana in Irrigation Sector and Kaleshwaram Project – Questions, Criticisms, Distortions”, explores the state’s irrigation progress under BRS rule.
Rao encouraged political leaders, government staff, intellectuals, and the public to read Deshpande’s book. He said it offers a clear picture of how much work the BRS government had done in the irrigation sector. According to him, the Congress could only manage to supply water to 5.71 lakh acres, while the BRS provided water to 18 lakh acres of new ayacut and stabilized another 30 lakh acres, totaling over 50 lakh acres.
He also slammed the Congress for appointing Adityanath Das as an advisor. Rao claimed Das had previously worked against Telangana's interests while serving as Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh. He accused Das of filing a false affidavit in court, which nearly led to jail time for him, and said Das supported projects like Pothireddypadu, which Telangana opposed.
Harish Rao further pointed out that Das’s associate, Kushvora, a former CWC chairman, had also created hurdles for Telangana in the past. Despite this, Rao said, the Congress government had now appointed Kushvora as an advocate to represent the state in discussions on water sharing under Section 3 of the Inter-State Water Regulations (ISWR).
Rao concluded by warning that these appointments could harm Telangana’s long-term water rights and called for public awareness on the issue.
