When Revanth put govt on backfoot

Hyderabad: Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao himself sprang to the defence of the his government to counter the charges levelled by TDP member A Revanth Reddy during a debate on the power situation on Monday in the Telangana Assembly.

KCR found it necessary to counter Revanth all by himself when the was seeking to counter KCR’s allegation that TDP president and AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is responsible for the power crisis in the state during a short duration debate on power situation taken up under Rule 344 on Monday.

KCR remarked that “this is a Black Day in the history of democracy. This member is praising the leader of another state who is working against the interests of Telangana state.”

This led to a verbal duel between the two. Reacting to Revanth’s charge that KCR is targeting Chief Minister of another state to hide his faults, KCR said he had not attacked any individual leader. However, Revanth demanded that Assembly records be verified to find out the veracity of KCR’s claim. At this, KCR made another somersault saying, “Yes, Chandrababu Naidu has removed fuses and asked his TTDP men to take up Bus Yatras.”

Revanth said that during the regime of TDP between 1994 and 2004, 5,061 MW capacity was created and it was Chandrababu government which gave uninterrupted power supply to Hyderabad.

When Revanth called the KCR Government an ‘inefficient’ government, KCR countered him by faulting the Centre for not allocating All-India Services (AIS) officers to Telangana. “This is not our inefficiency, but your lack of wisdom,” KCR remarked in reply to Revanth’s jibes. But Revanth’s dishing out of data given by the Southern Region Load Distribution Council (SRLDC) landed the government in soup.

Revanth said that as per SRLDC data for the period of June 18 and November 1, the two states utilised 27,948 MUs. Of this, Telangana state utilised 17,150 MU and AP 12,839 MU.

At one point, Major Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao took on Revanth and lambasted him for “speaking against the interests of his own state and becoming a voice of a leader who had caused huge damage to the Telangana state.”

However, Revanth said he was not going to be provoked by the words of ruling party leaders and continued giving figures that went against the claims made by KCR.

Finally, the House was adjourned to 4 pm as Revanth was literally unstoppable. According to observers, KCR devised the Rule 344 discussion on power just before the Short Discussion on farmers’ suicides slated for 4 pm, only to blunt the Opposition attack by claiming that power shortage was the making of previous Congress and TDP governments. But his plan boomeranged when Revanth came up with the data of SRLDC.