Hyderabad, Jan 1 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday demanded that if the Telangana government proposes to make a PowerPoint presentation in the Legislative Assembly, the principal Opposition party, the BRS, must also be given the same opportunity in the spirit of parliamentary democracy.
Speaking to the media at Telangana Bhavan, KTR said that once members enter the Assembly, there is no distinction between the Chief Minister and an ordinary legislator. “All 120 MLAs enjoy equal rights on the floor of the House. If the government presents its version, the Opposition must also be allowed to present its facts,” he said.
The Telangana government is likely to make a PowerPoint presentation in the Assembly on Friday on irrigation projects and river water-sharing issues.
“You present your version and allow us to present ours. As the principal Opposition, we are fully prepared to explain how Telangana’s agriculture and irrigation were transformed over the last ten years under BRS governance,” said KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known.
KTR asserted that the BRS is fully prepared to place facts and data before the Assembly.
Recalling an earlier instance, KTR said that when former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao made a PowerPoint presentation in the Assembly on March 31, 2016, the Congress party had boycotted the House, calling it a violation of parliamentary traditions. “What was unacceptable then—how has it suddenly become acceptable now?” he asked.
He said that a letter has been submitted to the Speaker seeking fairness and equal opportunity for the Opposition in the matter.
Launching a sharp attack on the Congress government, KTR questioned the Chief Minister’s understanding of irrigation and river water issues. He alleged that the Chief Minister had publicly claimed that the Bhakra Nangal Project was located in Telangana, whereas it is actually located in Himachal Pradesh.
“A Chief Minister who does not even know basic river basins wants to lecture us on irrigation?” KTR asked, adding that the Chief Minister was also unaware of the river basin to which the Devadula project belongs.
KTR highlighted what he described as the government’s failures in the irrigation sector, referring to the collapse of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel that claimed eight lives, the collapse of the Sunkishala project, and the submergence of the Vattem pump house.
“What should we learn from you—how to make check dams fail, how Medigadda collapsed, or how Telangana’s rightful share in Krishna waters was handed over to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB)?” he asked.
He further accused the Congress government of neglecting the Palamuru–Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme for the past two years and questioned whether even a single additional acre had received irrigation water under the present regime.
“Have they repaired even one tank or restored a single canal?” KTR asked.
--IANS
ms/pgh