No mention of Krishna water in demands

KCR to take up issue in meeting with Jal Shakti minister

Krishna water sharing dispute remains a burning issue between the Telugu states since June but when Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao submitted a long wish list to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his meeting on Friday, but this issue did not figure anywhere in his agenda.

An official press release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) says that Rao submitted a charter of 10 demands seeking various pending projects and funds for Telangana.

Interestingly, except for his request for review of IPS cadre for Telangana, all the remaining nine wishes are those which he has been submitting to the Prime Minister for the past seven years whenever he meets him.

This naturally triggered political speculations over why Rao avoided mentioning Krishna water row in his wish list against the backdrop of the Chief Minister making statements of going to any extent to safeguard the interests of Telangana in Krishna water share and reiterating that there was no question of compromising in this issue.

Political circles say it was a great opportunity for Rao to raise Krishna water issue in his wish list and seek justice for Telangana and express surprise over the Chief Minister not putting his demand in writing before the Prime Minister. Rao has been vehemently opposing the recent gazette issued by the Centre bringing all irrigation projects on the Krishna and the Godavari under the jurisdiction of respective river management boards (KRMB and GRMB).

He has been making a strong demand for sharing Krishna water at the ratio of 50:50 between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh against 66:34 being shared at present.

Rao has been boycotting KRMB meetings since June to register his protest and when he allowed irrigation officials to attend the KRMB meeting on September 1, they staged a walkout to protest the board’s refusal to share water at the ratio of 50:50. However, going by the CMO’s press release, none of these issues figured in his meeting with the Prime Minister.

But sources in the Telangana Rashtra Samiti say the Chief Minister would have raised this issue personally with Modi during the meeting and not submitted this in writing like all other representations. The Chief Minister will take up the Krishna issue with union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhwat when he meets him on Friday or Saturday, they add but political circles say for the Chief Minister raising the issue with the Prime Minister will have more impact than with Jal Shakti minister.