Banakacherla Brouhaha… Harish taunts Revanth, says he is a ‘virus of lies'
Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan, Harish Rao launched a salvo at Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Uttam Kumar Reddy. He alleged that there was a secret deal between Revanth Reddy and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu over the Godavari-Banakacherla project at Pragathi Bhavan. He further alleged that Revanth Reddy betrayed Telangana's water rights to fulfil his political obligations, referring to it as 'guru dakshina'. Harish Rao challenged Revanth Reddy to an open debate in the Assembly, daring him not to cut microphones or turn away cameras.
Harish Rao said people expected responsible statements from a Chief Minister, but Revanth Reddy repeatedly misled them, both as an opposition leader and now as Chief Minister. He stated that the BRS was the party that achieved statehood and prioritised the interests of Telangana, and accused Revanth Reddy and his government of diverting from people's issues towards political mudslinging. He questioned why all MLAs were not invited if the PowerPoint presented by Revanth Reddy was truly official. He further questioned whether the presentation was prepared by Telangana officials or Andhra Pradesh officials, as it appeared to favour Andhra Pradesh's interests.
Rao challenged Revanth Reddy to publicly show letters or any proof of action taken against Chandrababu Naidu's Banakacherla project. He accused Chandrababu Naidu of historically obstructing Kaleshwaram, Palamuru, Dindi, Tummilla, and Bhakta Ramadasu projects, yet noted that these crucial facts were deliberately omitted from Revanth Reddy's presentation. Rao warned Revanth Reddy that his arrogance would ultimately lead to his downfall. 'Technically, Revanth Reddy is a Congress Chief Minister, but his heart still belongs to the TDP. On 6 July 2024, Chandrababu Naidu was secretly invited to Pragathi Bhavan by Revanth Reddy to finalise the Godavari-Banakacherla deal under the guise of bifurcation promises. On 13 September 2024, Uttam Kumar Reddy and his wife met Chandrababu Naidu in Vijayawada, supported Banakacherla, and returned after enjoying local delicacies,' said Rao.
Rao further claimed that on 15 November 2024, Chandrababu Naidu wrote to Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting cooperation for the Andhra Pradesh-Godavari-Banakacherla link. Again, on 31 December 2024, Chandrababu Naidu requested Rs 80,000 crore for the Banakacherla project. Revanth Reddy, he alleged, remained silent and acted unaware while Andhra Pradesh planned these conspiracies. He recalled that the BRS was the first to expose Banakacherla publicly on 24 January 2025, challenging the Congress government. He claimed the word 'Banakacharla' never appeared in the Apex Council agenda, which, according to him, exposed Revanth Reddy's lies. He stated that the Banakacherla DPR clearly mentions diverting Krishna waters too. He offered to debate water issues with Uttam Kumar Reddy openly in the Assembly. Finally, he asked Revanth Reddy to change his ways, stop betraying Telangana's water interests, and warned him to avoid making Telangana's betrayal his permanent legacy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
44 minutes ago
- News18
'Should I Bring Truckful Of Papers To Parliament?': How Nehru Dismissed MPs' Concerns Over Indus Treaty
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday quoted from a News18 report on the Parliament archives to slam Nehru's approach in signing the IWT Should I bring a truckful of papers to the Parliament? This is how then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru dismissed the demands of parliamentarians, including senior members from his own party, who questioned him in 1960 on why he did not consult Parliament before signing the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday quoted from a News18 report on the Parliament archives to slam Nehru's approach in signing the IWT. A perusal of the archives shows Nehru was completely dismissive of the idea of consulting Parliament on it. 'All those numerous papers will probably fill a cart. You can imagine ten years' papers and if you have to bring them and present them to Parliament you require a truck-huge number of correspondences, this debate, that engineer's estimate, etc, running to hundreds of pages. It is a mountain of papers; it is not a few letters exchanged, for a period of twelve years," Nehru told Parliament. In this debate on November 30, 1960, Nehru went on to say that such 'complicated agreements" cannot be brought to Parliament. 'I do not think it is possible for any kind of these complicated agreements to be dealt with, when we have to refer to Parliament. There must have been, I suppose, in this particular matter, dozens of approaches, dozens of plans, discussed, ultimately rejected and something happened. Are we to come at every step and ask Parliament?" Nehru told the MPs. Parliamentarians, including those from the Congress, were aghast that while the Parliament was in session till September 9, 1960, the treaty was signed on September 19 in Karachi without Parliament being aware. 'You cannot carry on any kind of negotiation, even relatively simple ones and certainly not this very difficult one (with Parliament being consulted). Therefore, very wisely, the Constitution and convention lay down that in such agreements, Government has to stake its own judgment, its future, on it. There is no other way. One takes a risk; maybe that Government may go wrong. But there is no other way to deal with it," Nehru insisted. In the end, as per the BJP now and the general wisdom of the parliamentarians then, the Nehru government did go wrong on the Indus Waters Treaty. Nehru had then accused his fellow MPs of acting in 'narrow-minded spirit" while opposing the treaty and requesting 'a little more friendly treatment by this House". He said Congress MPs using words like a 'second partition" for IWT was loose language and a 'perversion of the facts". 'Partition of what? Of an inch of territory? Partition of a pailful of water? What have we partitioned? Is that the way to approach an international question? I was depressed that when we are dealing with mighty things like relationship of nations, the future of India spreading out, the future of Pakistan spreading out, we should talk in this way, which has no relation to fact," Nehru said. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Loading comments...
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
'India will be ...': What BJP said on impact of Trump's tariff; cites local consumption
NEW DELHI: The (BJP) on Tuesday downplayed the impact of US President Donald Trump's decision to impose a 50 per cent tariff on India, asserting that India's economy would be "least affected" by tariffs despite global pressures. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Addressing a press briefing, BJP national spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam said India was 'going to be the least affected by tariffs' due to its strong domestic consumption base. 'A lot of people are talking about tariffs these days... I want to tell you in brief that India is such a country that is going to be the least affected by tariffs. What is the reason for that? Today, there is a 57-58% contribution of local consumption to our GDP... Whatever impact there is in our economy, the pace at which it is moving, it is not going to decrease; rather it will grow faster. That is why when the rating agency saw that there is one such positive thing in India that 20% of the world's population lives in India, there is local consumption and this is not an export driven economy, India will comfortably bear this problem too,' Islam said. He further noted that India's economic performance stood in sharp contrast to Western nations. 'Looking at the global scenario today, inflation in America and the UK is higher than ours. Today, the whole world is grappling with inflation, while here, inflation is under control. The Congress often discusses Food Inflation; I want to tell them that today, food inflation in the country is -1.6%. This means the prices of food and drink items have decreased,' he said. The BJP spokesperson also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic policies for strengthening India's global position. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'At a time, when the world is grappling with economic turbulence and pricing challenges, international rating agencies hold a positive outlook on India's economy. This transformation has been made possible by the government's policy measures and reforms. I thank the people of our nation for choosing a stable and strong government three times in a row... The kind of policies that Prime Minister Modi has adopted since 2014, I can proudly say today that the country's economy has not only become stronger but is also racing forward rapidly. From all institutions and economists around the world, only positive signals are coming regarding India's economy,' Islam said.
Deccan Herald
an hour ago
- Deccan Herald
GBA won't control city corporations, assures Shivakumar
Shivakumar said this while piloting the Greater Bengaluru Governance (Amendment) Bill, which was passed in the Assembly amid concerns expressed by the opposition BJP that the GBA, headed by the Chief Minister, would centralise power.
