Hyderabad: BRS MLA T. Harish Rao lashed out at the Congress-led government, accusing it of deliberately misinforming the public on the Sitarama lift irrigation project. Though the scheme had received the necessary hydrology clearances and nods from the Central Water Commission (CWC), Harish Rao alleged the ruling Congress was spinning a narrative that painted the project as unauthorised, misleading Telangana’s people in the process.
He dismissed recent remarks by Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy as baseless and claimed the Congress, having come to power on the back of “fabricated promises”, was now once again relying on lies to govern. He criticised the party’s leadership, arguing they hadn’t completed a single irrigation project or supplied water to even one acre of farmland during their 18-month rule, yet were eager to take credit for the irrigation success achieved under BRS.
Harish Rao described as shameful the Congress leaders’ conduct—posing for photos at projects built by the BRS and then publicly criticising the same schemes. “We work to bring water to the fields. You work to take pictures,” he scoffed, adding that Telangana’s arid landscape was turned fertile under BRS governance after years of drought under Congress rule.
Citing the saying, “If the truth stays silent, lies will rule,” Harish Rao likened this to the current state of affairs, arguing that the Congress was spreading misinformation so widely and frequently that people might start to believe it. That, he said, was precisely why the BRS felt compelled to confront every lie with documented truth.
Harish Rao detailed that a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Sitarama project had been submitted to the Central Water Commission on 30 October 2018. In September and October of 2021, the CWC’s Hydrology Directorate had confirmed that 113.795 TMC of water was available for the proposed project. The same year, the central government had affirmed that 70.4 TMC could be utilised for irrigating 6.74 lakh acres across Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem, and Mahabubabad districts, besides being used for drinking and industrial purposes.
Despite this, Harish Rao said, Congress leaders were now falsely claiming that the project lacked clearances and water allocations. He slammed Uttam Kumar Reddy’s statements as the peak of misinformation and ignorance, given the project’s verified hydrological and central approvals.
He accused Congress of jeopardising Telangana’s water rights for political gains and labelled their attacks on BRS and KCR laughable. According to Harish Rao, the Congress had not even utilised its Krishna river water share effectively and had failed to curb Andhra Pradesh’s “looting” of Godavari water. “These same leaders stayed silent in the unified state while Telangana’s rightful share was plundered, and today they’re mortgaging our interests once again,” he alleged.
Harish Rao argued that Uttam Kumar Reddy was under the delusion that repeating lies would make them true. He questioned whether the Congress had forgotten how its own past policies had harmed Telangana—pointing to projects like Rajiv Sagar and Indira Sagar, which he said were designed to benefit Andhra while leaving Telangana at a loss. “You placed Indira Sagar’s headworks in Andhra and shut it off permanently. You ran Rajiv Sagar’s pipeline through a wildlife sanctuary so it couldn’t get clearances. That was your doing,” he said.
Blaming Congress’ “ineptitude” for Telangana’s water crisis in the Krishna basin, Harish Rao said it was KCR who had preemptively developed the Sitarama lift irrigation project as the only viable solution. The integrated project, he explained, overcame the inter-state and forest clearance hurdles posed by older plans. It was designed to serve the original 3.33 lakh acres of the earlier projects and add another 3.41 lakh acres, increasing storage from 1.2 to 10 TMC with ₹7,967 crore allocated for the works.
He claimed the scheme would transform the agricultural landscape of Khammam and Warangal districts, providing irrigation to over 6.74 lakh acres and supplying drinking water to hundreds of villages. The reconfigured project had doubled water allocation—from 33 to 70.40 TMC—while reducing the pipeline length from 77 km to 8.56 km and doubling the ayacut. All without triggering inter-state or forest clearance issues.
Yet, Harish Rao pointed out, it was Congress leaders who had earlier filed cases with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to halt the project’s progress and had tried to obstruct its environmental clearances. He maintained that despite such sabotage and central delays, the BRS had managed to complete 90% of the work. The only clearance pending, he said, was the TAC (Technical Advisory Committee), and he urged Minister Reddy to consult with officials before making public statements.
Mocking the Congress leadership again for visiting completed BRS-built projects just for photo ops, Harish Rao added, “Our mission is to build projects and bring water. Yours is to click pictures.” He reiterated that Telangana’s fields had turned green under BRS rule after lying barren under decades of Congress neglect. “For 50 years you denied irrigation to this region, and now you’re trying to pawn Telangana’s water to Andhra yet again. People are watching,” he wrote in a tweet tagging Uttam Kumar Reddy.
“When truth stays silent, lies wear the crown.”
“నిజం మౌనంగా ఉంటే, అబద్ధమే రాజ్యం ఏలుతుంది.”
ఈ సామెత కాంగ్రెస్ పార్టీ తీరుకు అతికినట్టు సరిపోతుంది .అబద్ధాలే ఆధారంగా అధికారంలోకి వచ్చిన కాంగ్రెస్ ప్రభుత్వం, ఇప్పుడు మళ్లీ అవే అబద్ధాలతో పాలన సాగిస్తూ ప్రజలను తప్పుదారి పట్టిస్తోంది.… pic.twitter.com/ktkSo8ppeh
— Harish Rao Thanneeru (@BRSHarish) May 11, 2025
