Congress Dares KCR To Maharashtra Water Pact Debate

Leader Of Opposition in the Telangana State Legislative Council Mohammad Ali Shabbir today dared Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to an open debate on the agreement that was signed with the Maharashtra government on August 25 for the sharing of the waters of the Godavari and its tributaries Penganga and Pranahitha.

Addressing a press meet at the Congress Legislative Party office, Shabbir Ali said that KCR had claimed that the Congress had never taken up any projects with Maharashtra, and had accused the Party of hampering relationships with the neighbouring States, but that there were government records that confuted the CM's claim.

"The then united AP government signed an agreement with Maharashtra on May 5, 2012, for the establishment of an Inter-State Board for the Pranahita-Chevella reservoir project, which was done as a follow-up to the original agreement signed on October 6, 1975, by then Chief Ministers S B Chavan (MH) and J Vengala Rao (AP). The 2012 agreement clearly described the Lendi, lower Penganga and Pranahita projects as joint ventures of the two State governments. It was signed by the then CMs N Kiran Kumar Reddy (AP) and Prithviraj Chavan (MH) in the presence of Union Minister for Water Resources Pavan Kumar Bansal."

These proceedings were inscribed in government records which the CM could not deny, he added.

He said that the previous Congress regime had proposed 16.4 lakh acres of ayacut under the Pranahita-Chevella project while the TRS-led government had promised 18 lakh acres under the Medigadda project.

"There is no way that an additional 1.6 lakh acres can cost Rs. 50,000 crores. If it does, the Congress would like to see the estimations," he demanded.

He also said that the Rao was wrong in claiming that the pact with Maharashtra would take the total ayacut count to one crore acres. "In its advertisement published in the print media, the government itself mentioned that a total of 18 lakh acres of ayacut will be obtained through the new Godavari river projects. I challenge KCR to demonstrate the logic behind how he proposes to get the additional 82 lakh acres of ayacut," he demanded.

Shabbir Ali alleged that Rao had surrendered to Maharashtra by agreeing to release 20% of the river waters stored in the reservoirs of the three major projects on the Godavari river. "The projects are being built with land, water and finances from Telangana. But KCR had agreed to provide 20% of water to Maharashtra in exchange for nothing," he claimed.

Slamming the Chief Minister for his alleged jibes at and threats to the Opposition leaders, Shabbir Ali said that the CM's treatment of criticism from the Opposition was unparliamentary. He strongly condemned the CM for supposedly threatening to send the Opposition leaders to jail if they displayed dissent any further.

"While celebrating the signing of the Godavari pact, KCR took a jibe at N Uttam Kumar Reddy personally and used derogatory language. He threatened him and the all Opposition leaders with imprisonment. This approach is undemocratic," Shabbir Ali said.

He referred to a recent comment by a Supreme Court bench in the defamation case levelled by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha against an opposition leader in that State, wherein the judge had said, "This is not done. You can't use a defamation case to throttle democracy. This is not a healthy practice. You must face criticism if you are a public figure." The Congress leader said that KCR should take a note of this while dealing with the Opposition.

He demanded that KCR apologize for his remarks against the Congress and its leaders in order to protect the sanctity of his post.