Hyderabad: The row between the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the sharing of river Krishna waters and power has further escalated with Telangana Chief Minister declaring that he will drag his Andhra Pradesh counterpart to the Supreme Court.
After a detailed discussion on the issue in state cabinet, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao launched a blistering attack on N Chandrababu Naidu holding him squarely responsible for the acute power crisis in his state.
Using sobriquets like ‘cheat’ and ‘shaitan’ (devil) for Naidu, Rao said the Andhra chief minister was the enemy of Telangana farmers and was trying to destroy them in order to project Telangana government as a failure.
The two states are locked in a fierce political duel over the issue of power generation in the left bank canal power house of Srisailam project. While Andhra Pradesh government has demanding Telangana to stop generation of 750MW of power from this plant and also stopped release of water from Srisailam project, Rao has outright rejected the demand. “There is no question of stopping power generation as Telangana has a right to utilise the water of Srisailam till the level comes down to 834ft from the present 857ft.
Challenging Naidu to a public debate either in Hyderabad or in Vijayawada on the issue, Rao said, “he is responsible for creating a power crisis in the state by violating the direction of Central Electricity Authority and AP State Electricity Regulatory on power sharing”.
He said that under the AP State Reorganisation Act, Telangana’s share in electricity was fixed at 53.89 per cent, but Andhra Pradesh was depriving it of its due share. He also alleged Naidu was pressuring Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharati to force Krishna Water Management Board to stop power generation.
Rao appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect the legitimate rights of Telangana. He alleged the union government had become a silent spectator to injustice meted out to Telangana since it was formed.
