With the laying of foundation stone for Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift Irrigation project on river Krishna in Mahabubnagar district, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has opened a new war front between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The project, meant to utilize 90 TMC from Krishna, will seriously affect the water diversion  to the backward region of Rayalaseema. If Telangana constructs Palamuru-Ranga Redd project in the upper reaches  of Krishna River, the flood flow into Srisailam reservoir would seriously come down and make diverting Krishna waters to Rayalaseema impracticable. There won’t be any water available to be diverted to Rayalaseema as assured by Naidu in lieu of Pattiseema project. Naidu assured that Godavari water would be transferred to Krishna barrage from Pattiseema lift and the water thus saved in the barrage would be diverted from Srisailam to Rayalaseema. But, Palamuru-Ranga Reddy will militate against such a grand plan.

Even though Andhra Pradesh yesterday lodged a complaint against the new project with CWC, given the poor track record of CWC in resolving the inter-state water disputes, it is most unlikely that it would stall Palamuru-Ranga Reddy Lift.

Now, we have to see how the Opposition leader of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan, who has a soft corner for KCR, would react to the new project on Krishna. As a leader from Rayalaseema, Jagan is expected to reveal his stand on the project and oppose it. For late comers, Jagan is opposed to Pattiseema, which according to him is a fraud.