The aggressive posture taken by YSRCP president and CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy against the construction of irrigation projects in Telangana has triggered a big debate in the political circles.
The opposition parties in Telangana are suspicious that Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was hand in glove with Jagan and that the so-called strong statements from both the chief ministers were just diversionary tactics.
However, the latest comments made by KCR against the Andhra Pradesh government for making a fuss on the Telangana irrigation projects made one wonder whether the bonhomie between the two chief ministers has disappeared now.
Added to this, Jagan had written a strongly-worded letter to Union minister for Jal Sakthi Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Tuesday making a counter-attack on Telangana and questioning the Centre as to why it was raising issues only on Andhra projects.
Jagan said none of the projects being taken up on Krishna river was new and were given consent by the Telangana government in 2015.
On the objections being raised by Telangana on Rayalaseema lift irrigation project, he said it was only a supplementary scheme without construction of any canals and bringing in any additional ayacut.
“We are taking up the scheme only to augment our allocated water to stabilise the existing ayacut under Telugu Ganga Project. As such, it is not a new project and permission is required only for the new projects,” Jagan said.
On the other hand, the AP chief minister questioned the construction of Palamuru Ranga Reddy and Dindi lift irrigation schemes on Krishna river by the Telangana government.
“While the apex council has been silent on these illegal projects of Telangana, it is not correct to raise objections on our projects,” he argued.