HYDERABAD: A day after describing former Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy as a ‘water thief’ and the current CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy a ‘bigger thief,’ Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy said that he stands by the comments he made in Mahbubnagar. The Minister, however, clarified that his comments were not directed at the people of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, but at the rulers of AP who had illegally diverted Krishna waters from Telangana in the past as well as those who still continue to do so.
Addressing the media, Prashanth Reddy said that his comments were also directed at AP government’s Chief Whip G Srikanth Reddy, MLA Roja, MLA Ravindranath Reddy and AP BJP president Somu Veerraju. Standing by his comments in which he described late YSR as a rakshasa (demon) and a ‘thief,’ who illegally diverted Krishna waters to Andhra region, he wondered what Jagan must be called for repeating the same.
He raised serious objections to AP government’s efforts to divert 9.12 tmc of water every day from Srisailam through Pothireddipadu and Muchumarri lift irrigation schemes by illegally constructing new projects without obtaining necessary permissions.
While appealing to the AP government to follow the National Green Tribunal’s stay orders and to stop the construction of these projects, he clarified that the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and Dindi projects were both sanctioned during the united AP rule , which was why Telangana was going ahead with it.He asserted that the State would wage a movement against the Centre if it fails to resolve the water-sharing issues between the two Telugu States.
Stating that both the States need to approach the Centre and Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal to get the issue resolved, he said the responsibility was on AP BJP unit chief Somu Veerraju and his Telangana counterpart Bandi Sanjay Kumar for facilitating the same. In the meantime, works on RDS right canal and Rayalaseema lift irrigation scheme have to stop, he demanded.