Elections 2019: KCR takes U-turn on Polavaram!

Hyderabad, Apr 09: Till the other day, Telangana Rashtra Samithi government headed by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was strongly opposing the ongoing construction of Polavaram major irrigation project on Godavari river.

The TRS government filed a counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court requesting it to issue orders for conducting a new environmental impact assessment of the Polavaram Project. It said the court should look into safety of people, livestock and environment in Telangana needed to be considered.

This was despite the fact that the project got environmental clearance from the Centre, which declared it as a national project. KCR, who went to Odisha in December 2018, also broached this subject with Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and extended support to the latter’s fight to stall the Polavaram project.

He proposed that Telangana, Odisha and Chhattisgarh fight together against Polavaram project.

Now that it has become a sentimental issue in Andhra elections, KCR took a U-turn. Addressing a rally in Vikarabad on Monday, the Telangana chief minister said he had never raised any objection to Polavaram.

“We wish that the Polavaram project be completed at the earliest. We never opposed it. We only wanted our due share in Godavari waters and that our lands were not submerged in waters,” he said.

He also sought to appease Andhra people saying he never had any problem with them.

"The only problem is with people like Chandrababu Naidu, who is creating litigations and provoking the people of Andhra. He is going to lose power and will not get even deposits. And I wish both the states will prosper," KCR said.

If that is the case, will KCR withdraw his petition in the Supreme Court against Polavaram?