Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], October 16 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Congress-led Telangana government, terming the prevailing water distress across the state a "drought brought by Congress", resulting from administrative failure rather than seasonal vagaries.
In a post on social media platform X, KTR alleged that due to the state government's inability to manage irrigation projects and pump houses, more than 1,000 TMC of river water has been allowed to go to waste downstream since June.
"This is not a drought brought by time... This is a drought brought by Congress!! From June 01, 2026 to today: 750+ TMC of Godavari water, 250 TMC of Krishna water... This Congress government has released downstream," KTR wrote.
The BRS leader charged the administration with deliberately underutilising key lift irrigation systems designed to fill rural tanks and balancing reservoirs across both river basins.
"Despite the opportunity to properly utilise Kannepalli, Devaradula pumps... and fill the reservoirs and tanks on the Godavari... they ignored it. Without turning on the Palamuru-Rangareddy, KLI pumps... they wasted Krishna water," he claimed.
KTR further stated that the state government failed to formulate a drought-mitigation strategy despite early warnings regarding climatic patterns, allowing neighbouring Andhra Pradesh to divert water to its own regions.
"Even though experts warned since March this year that El Nino is coming, the Congress government ignored it. And as soon as the Congress government released it downstream, the AP government diverted Godavari water through Puttisema.. Krishna water through Pothireddypadu, Veligonda tunnel. They even diverted water to some Kuppam area somewhere," the BRS leader added.
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, on October 11, directed officials to prepare a robust plan for immediate action amid the emerging crisis conditions caused by El Niño in the state.
He held a review meeting with top officials at his Jubilee Hills residence regarding the El Niño impact and conditions in the state.
In view of the water crisis, the Chief Minister ordered the officials to assess the standing crops and ensure there is no water shortage until the harvest is complete. The CM emphasised the need for special measures to prevent the water crisis from worsening in the future and insisted that precautions be taken to ensure not a single drop of water goes to waste.
CM Reddy announced that a special meeting with ministers would be held soon to discuss the impact of El Niño and the prevailing rainfall deficit in the state. Some key decisions would be taken after deliberating on the situation in areas with low rainfall, the difficulties faced by farmers, and the immediate measures the government needs to implement.
Amidst the prevailing drought-like conditions in approximately 215 mandals across the state, the state government has already adopted a resolution in the Assembly and appealed to the Centre to declare these areas as drought-affected, provide adequate financial assistance, and allocate a special package of Rs 20,000 crore.
The Chief Minister instructed officials to appeal to the Centre to provide an additional 50 days of employment as against the standard 125 days under the employment guarantee scheme. The state government is ready to facilitate these extra workdays; the CM said that a decision regarding the formation of an all-party committee, if necessary, would be taken after discussing the matter with the ministers.