BRS attributes the drought to the government. non-use of available water, electricity production

BRS leader T. Harish Rao, Narsapur MLA V. Sunitha Laxma Reddy at a meeting at Kagaz Maddur in Medak district on Saturday. | Photo credit: By arrangement

HYDERABAD

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader T. Harish Rao blamed the Congress government in the state for the extension of drought conditions more due to non-utilization of Godavari water rather than the El Nino phenomenon.

Speaking at Kagaz Maddur in Medak district’s Narsapur constituency on Saturday, he said the drought was caused by the Congress rather than nature and alleged that the Congress government was exposing farmers to avoidable drought by not lifting Godavari water from the Medigadda barrage despite the structural problem being exposed.

Although the India Meteorological Department had warned more than six months ago of an imminent drought due to the impact of El Nino, the government has not pumped enough water from the Godavari to meet two harvest seasons and drinking needs, and has not stockpiled enough coal in thermal power plants to meet rising power demand. Now the farmers had to suffer from irregular power supply as they did not get supplies even for six hours at a stretch.

While the state is facing severe power shortage, the Congress government has decided to provide power to be generated at the new Singareni thermal power plant (800 megawatts), planned and approved during the BRS regime. He demanded that the government cancel its power sale agreement with Rajasthan when Telangana itself needed power as consumption was growing rapidly.

A shortage of coal at the Bhadradri and Yadadri thermal power plants has limited power generation there. He claimed that the government was not supplying enough energy to the agricultural sector to escape the responsibility of procuring paddy and other crops at the support price.

Several Congress and BJP leaders and activists joined the BRS in the meeting chaired by Narsapur MLA V. Sunitha Laxma Reddy. Mr. Harish Rao said that the Congress leaders are afraid to go out and meet the people in the villages because they have not been able to repair even the village roads.

Published – 03 Oct 2026 21:02 IST