Congress responsible for excluding PRLIS from AP Reorganisation Act’s Section 89, damaging Telangana’s interests: Bandi Sanjay

Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged that Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had made “outright false statements” on the floor of the Assembly, particularly regarding the Palamuru–Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS). He asserted that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone that had launched sustained agitations against the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government over the project, questioning whether Congress had ever led such movements.

Speaking to the media in Karimnagar on Thursday (January 8, 2026), he claimed credit for exerting pressure on former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and said the BJP had compelled the BRS leadership to address water-related injustices. He further claimed that the Central Government had convened several meetings to ensure that Telangana was not denied its rightful share of river waters.

Accusing Congress of being the ‘first and primary offender’ in committing injustice to Telangana, Mr. Sanjay pointed out that during the united Andhra Pradesh era, despite the Krishna river water allocation being 811 TMCs, Telangana was never allowed to utilise more than 200 TMCs.

Similarly, he said that although the Godavari river water share stood at 1,486 TMCs, Telangana’s utilisation never crossed 500 TMCs under Congress rule.

PRLIS excluded from AP Reorganisation Act provision

Referring to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, he said Congress had betrayed Telangana. He cited Section 89 of the Act, which states that no objections should be raised over water projects that were under construction or in the planning stage at the time of bifurcation. While four projects in Andhra Pradesh and two in Telangana were included under this provision, the Palamuru–Rangareddy project was conspicuously excluded, he alleged.

Questioning the silence of Congress leaders who were in power at the time, Mr. Sanjay asked why they failed to object to the exclusion of the project, calling it a historic injustice to Telangana’s interests.

The Union Minister alleged that Congress and BRS were indulged in ‘political theatrics’ to divert attention from key public concerns such as the implementation of the Congress government’s six guarantees and pending corruption inquiries against the previous BRS regime.