Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has been making massive arrangements for the inauguration of Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project on Godavari river on June 21.
There is no doubt that KCR has focussed on completion of the project which is very gigantic and the biggest lift irrigation scheme in the country. But the credit of expediting the project and completing it in a record time goes to Siddipet MLA and KCR’s nephew T Harish Rao.
Everybody agrees that during his tenure as irrigation minister between 2014 and 2018, it was Harish Rao, who had taken personal care in taking up the works on Kaleshwaram lift scheme. Right from planning to execution, Harish Rao took extreme care.
“He worked like a real engineer, personally supervising every inch of its construction. He even slept at the project site several nights to oversee the construction and went round the interior areas on motor bike. For Harish Rao, Kaleshwaram was a dream project,” a TRS source said.
However, after KCR came to power for a second term, he denied cabinet berth to Harish Rao and kept the irrigation portfolio with himself.
“Now, as the project is nearing completion, the chief minister is taking all the credit for himself,” the TRS leader said.
What is worse, there is absolutely no credit to Harish Rao as the project is ready for inauguration.
His name does not appear in the invitation card and on the plaque being unveiled at the Medigadda dam site. He is not being invited to the project inauguration, the TRS source said.
What hurt Harish Rao is the way KCR went head over heels to please his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and invite him as the chief guest to the project inauguration.
The speech of Jagan, in which he strongly opposed construction of Kaleshwaram and made serious comments against KCR and Telangana is now doing viral in the social media.
“How can KCR invite an anti-Telangana leader like Jagan for the project? It is nothing but insulting the people of Telangana,” a source close to Harish Rao said, adding the former minister is waiting for the right opportunity to strike back at KCR and that would trigger revolt within the party.