BRS to raise Kaleshwaram, Palamuru projects, fee dues in Assembly: KCR

BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao directed party MLAs and MLCs to raise the Congress Government’s alleged failure to release water from the Kaleshwaram project and neglect of the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy irrigation project during the monsoon session of the legislature beginning Monday.

They will also raise the issue of pending dues under the tuition fee reimbursement scheme, among other matters, he said.

Rao, also known as KCR, who presided over a meeting of party MLAs and MLCs to finalise the party’s strategy for the session on Sunday, announced that he would soon launch “agitations with lakhs of people” against the Congress Government’s alleged negligence in releasing water from the Kaleshwaram project and completing the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy irrigation project.

The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project has faced controversy over structural deficiencies and is under a CBI probe into alleged corruption and design issues.

The Palamuru-Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Scheme aims to irrigate 12.3 lakh acres using Krishna River water.

Dismissing the ruling Congress’ criticism of KCR for largely staying away from the Assembly since the Congress Government assumed office in December 2023, BRS MLA T Harish Rao said party MLAs and MLCs had told KCR that he need not attend the session as Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and other Congress leaders had been “abusive” towards him.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Harish Rao, a nephew of KCR, alleged that the Congress Government, which recently completed 1,000 days in office, had betrayed all sections of society, including students, unemployed youth, farmers and women.

The BRS has decided to demand that the Assembly session be extended to a month, he said.

Harish Rao alleged that the Congress Government was not releasing water from the Kaleshwaram project despite it being possible to do so and was also not completing the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy project.

The Congress Government had earlier said it would carry out repairs to the barrages of the Kaleshwaram project, built during the BRS regime, in accordance with the recommendations of the National Dam Safety Authority.

The previous BRS Government had completed about 80 per cent of the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy project, he claimed.

The BRS would question the Congress Government over the large-scale inclusion of lands in the prohibitive list under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, which prevents poor and middle-class people from carrying out transactions, including the sale and purchase of property, he said.

The BRS would raise the allegedly inadequate farm loan waiver and ‘Rythu Bharosa’ investment support scheme for farmers, the merger of polytechnic colleges with Young India Skills University, drought conditions, pending dearness allowance and Pay Revision Commission dues of Government employees, and pending dues under the tuition fee reimbursement scheme in the Assembly, he said.

Referring to the Congress’s demand that KCR quit as an MLA for largely staying away from Assembly sessions despite being the Leader of the Opposition, Harish Rao claimed that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy should resign for failing to fulfil his election promises.

Harish Rao pointed to the examples of late senior leaders M G Ramachandran, J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh.

He said they too had stayed away from Assembly proceedings at various times in protest against what they considered unfair treatment by the Governments in power.

They later returned to the Assembly as chief ministers, he added.