Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader Gudur Narayana Reddy on Saturday attacked Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy over his frequent visits to New Delhi. He alleged that the Chief Minister seems more keen on generating headlines in the national capital than tackling the worsening Telangana drought.
Narayana Reddy said Revanth Reddy has made around 79 visits to New Delhi since taking office in December 2023. That works out to roughly one trip every 12 to 13 days. The visits have included meetings with Union Ministers, Congress organisational programmes and political engagements.
“Apparently, the Chief Minister knows the Delhi timetable better than Telangana’s drought map,” Narayana Reddy said. “Every few days there is a boarding pass, a meeting, a photograph and a headline,” he added. Farmers in Telangana, he said, are still waiting to know what the government will do for them.
He accused Revanth Reddy of turning governance into a “Delhi-centric public relations exercise”. Meanwhile, serious problems in agriculture, irrigation, drinking water and electricity are piling up in the State, he said. “Delhi cannot become the second Secretariat while Telangana is treated like a weekend assignment,” he remarked.
The BJP leader said the contrast is especially striking as Telangana faces one of its toughest monsoon seasons in recent years. The State received 615.5 mm of rainfall during the southwest monsoon against the normal 740.6 mm, a 17 per cent deficit. Eighteen of its 33 districts ended the season with deficient rainfall.
Preliminary government assessments have identified as many as 320 mandals across 18 districts facing severe drought. The Chief Minister’s Office, however, has separately referred to drought-like conditions in 235 mandals while further assessment continues.
Narayana Reddy said press conferences and Delhi meetings cannot handle such numbers. “Hundreds of mandals are staring at drought,” he said. Tanks are drying, groundwater is falling and crops are under stress, he noted, while farmers spend more to pump whatever water remains. “At such a time, Telangana needs its Chief Minister on the ground, not constantly in an airport lounge,” he said.
He described the situation in minor irrigation tanks as particularly alarming. According to available data, around 17,677 of approximately 21,500 monitored tanks were below 50 per cent capacity in early October. About 12,944 tanks were either dry or held less than 25 per cent storage. The rainfall deficit has also raised pressure on the power sector, agriculture and drinking-water sources, he said, with farmers increasingly dependent on borewells and pumping.
Special Cabinet meeting on October 12
Narayana Reddy pointed out that the government itself has acknowledged the seriousness of the crisis. It has decided to hold a special Cabinet meeting on October 12 to review agriculture, irrigation, drinking water and rising electricity demand.
“The irony is that the drought did not arrive in Telangana on October 10. Warning signs were visible months ago,” he said. He added that El Niño was no confidential file hidden somewhere in Delhi, and scientists had been warning about its impact. Yet the Congress government waited until the crisis reached its doorstep before seeing the need for an action plan, he alleged.
Narayana Reddy had earlier demanded a comprehensive El Niño action plan. He had also urged the State government to maximise water storage and use available Godavari flows to shield Telangana from prolonged water stress. He said the government is now seeking a Rs. 20,000-crore special package from the Centre and preparing further assessments. Farmers, however, need immediate measures from the State government as well, he said.
“Seeking assistance from the Centre is perfectly legitimate, and the Centre should help wherever assistance is due,” he said. “But a Chief Minister cannot outsource his own government’s responsibility to Delhi. Before asking what Delhi will give, he must tell Telangana what his government has already done.”
Taking another swipe at the CM’s travel schedule, he said people are no longer interested in counting his meetings with leaders in Delhi. Instead, they want to know how many drought-hit farmers got assistance and how many tanks got filled. They also want to know how many acres of crops the government protected, how much drinking water it secured and how many villages got uninterrupted power.
The Chief Minister’s 80th Delhi visit, whenever it happens, should not become another political milestone, Narayana Reddy said. Instead of celebrating the next trip with another photograph, he said, the government should try producing “a drought relief cheque in a farmer’s hand”.
He demanded that the State government immediately finalise the list of drought-hit mandals and announce a time-bound relief package. He also called for crop-loss assessment, stronger drinking-water arrangements and maximum storage in available reservoirs and tanks. The government must also spell out its power-management strategy for the coming months, he said.
“Telangana does not need a frequent-flyer Chief Minister. It needs a full-time Chief Minister,” Narayana Reddy said.