Revanth Reddy dares KCR to a two-day Assembly debate on Kaleshwaram in December

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has challenged his predecessor K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) to a two-day debate in the Legislative Assembly on the Kaleshwaram project, the use of Godavari waters and the threat of an El Niño drought. He asked Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar to hold a special session in December for it, and invited KCR to attend with members of his family.

Mr. Reddy made the challenge on 7 November at a meeting with farmers and agricultural scientists in Kodangal, his Assembly constituency. He said the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government had erred in dropping the original Pranahita-Chevella scheme in favour of Kaleshwaram, and in changing the new project’s design and cost again and again, and that the project had failed under the very government that built it. His government, he said, was ready to place evidence against the KCR family before the House.

He also warned that El Niño conditions could bring drought next year and urged farmers to shift to crops that need less water.

The background

Kaleshwaram, a giant lift irrigation scheme on the Godavari opened in 2019 at an estimated cost of about ₹1 lakh crore, was KCR’s flagship project. In October 2023, weeks before the Assembly election that the BRS lost, piers of its Medigadda barrage sank. The National Dam Safety Authority later blamed flaws in planning, design and construction, and a judicial commission headed by former Supreme Court judge P.C. Ghose examined the decisions behind the project. The State government has since handed the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The BRS has defended the project and accuses the Congress of using the damage to settle political scores.

KCR, the Leader of the Opposition, has seldom attended the Assembly since his party lost power in December 2023, and Mr. Reddy has issued similar challenges before.

What’s next

There was no word yet from the Speaker on dates for a special session, or from KCR on whether he will take up the challenge.