The AP and Telangana are once again on a warpath over Krishna waters. At a time when all disputes are being solved amicably, the Telangana government has suddenly become belligerent again. Leading the Telangana charge was chief minister KCR himself. He used strong words to criticise AP Government in general and AP CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in particular.
Despite Telangana’s aggression, the AP Government responded in a restrained manner. Irrigation Minister Anil Kumar was not his usual aggressive shelf. In a rejoinder, he said that the AP government was abiding by all the rules and regulations, while constructing the projects. There were no errors whatsoever, he said. He also shunned direct attack of the Telangana government and said that dispute, if any, would be settled amicably in the Krishna water management board.
Meanwhile, the Telangana government has lodged a complaint with the Board accusing the AP government of constructing projects illegally. Interestingly, the complaint said that the T government had raised this issue in the past too. However, Telangana did not raise the issue for the last two years. Why is the Telangana government reacting so strongly while it had remained a mute spectator for two years.
Any project that is not in the Schedule 11 of the AP reorganisation act should be deemed a new project. By that argument, Palamuru, Rangareddy and Dindi projects are new projects. NO one is raising objections to these projects. But, KCR is periodically raising the issue of AP’s projects. Those in the know say that KCR is raising all these only to attack the BJP, which is growing in popularity in Telangana. He feels that Eatala’s joining the BJP is only a beginning and many more could follow him. To prevent exodus, KCR is conveniently raising the water-sharing issue. It is because of this reason that the YSRCP has reacted in a very lukewarm way. It knows the target of KCR’s attack is BJP not YSRCP.
