Hyderabad, Nov 07: A bitter war of words has broken out among political parties in Andhra Pradesh over Krishna water issue even as the decades-old dispute with upper riparian Karnataka is set to reach a crucial stage with both the states seeking constitution of a new tribunal to fix sharing of waters among riparian states. While ruling TDP accused Congress of 'speaking the voice of Karnataka and working against the interests of the state', the opposition party charged the government with trying to delay execution of pending irrigation projects under the cover of fresh tribunal.
Alleging that Congress was trying to mislead people to cover up its internal differences over the issue, the state major irrigation minister K Srihari told reporters here today that the government was preparing to make out a strong case before the Centre to ensure full rights for the state over surplus Krishna waters and protection of quota fixed by the previous tribunal. The opposition party was behaving "as if it was holding brief for Karnataka and bent upon scuttling the state's irrigation projects conceived on the basis of surplus waters," the minister alleged.
Senior Congress legislator and former minister M V Mysoora Reddy had earlier accused TDP government of failing to expedite completion of irrigation projects and doing precious little on utilisation of surplus waters.
Seeking to know why the government was now bringing the issue of a new tribunal to the fore when it had failed to properly handle the river water dispute all along, Reddy wondered how constitution of a fresh tribunal would ensure protection of state's interests. Bureau Report