YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy will go on three-day fast against what he called the failure of TDP chief minister Chandrababu Naidu in protecting the interests of Godavari and Krishna farmers. The fast will begin on May 16 at Kurnool. Announcing this at a press conference on Saturday, Jagan said this agitation is also a protest against the projects of Palamuru -Ranga Reddy and Dindi being taken up on Krishna. He opposed these projects which are planned to draw 115 TMC water from Krishna in the upper reaches of Srisailam Project. If completed, these projects would spell disaster for eight district of Andhra Pradesh and two districts in Telangana, Khammam and Nalgonda.
Expressing shock at chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s silence on these projects, Jagan said Naidu was tongue-tied before his Telangana counterpart KCR because he was caught red-handed in cash-for-vote scam. Because of this case, he was not in a position to talk about the damage these project would cause to Rayalaseema, Krishna, Prakasam, Gutnur and Krishna districts.
“Unless the water level in Srisailam is maintained at 854 feet, it is not possible to take water to Rayalaseema. Now the water level in Srisailam has fallen to 740 feet. If the water is diverted from Krishna to Palamuru-Ranga Reddy and Dindi project, how would Srisailam get the water ? When would it reach the 854 ft level so that water could be released to Rayalaseema? How does Nagarjuna Sagar get the water?,” Jagan asked.
“Naidu is silent on all these issues; He is not in a position to fight with Telangana government on behalf of Andhra farmers; He is not able to fight with Modi government for special status, Vizag railway zone etc.. This is Naidu’s predicament,” he added.
Referring to Haribhai Parthibhai Patel’s statement in Rajya Sabha yesterday that Andhra doesn’t need special status, Jagan said central ministers had been emboldened by the chief attitude towards special status to make this type of statements.
” In a calculated way chief minister Chandrababu Naidu poured cold water on the special status demand by stating that special status is not sanjeevani. Had we been accorded the special status, there wouldn’t have been any need for Naidu to go about searching for investors. They would have come calling with investments,” he said.
The three-day fast, Jagan hoped, would serve as an eye-opener for Naidu, KCR and Modi to the plight of farmers in Rayalaseema and Krishna delta.
