Irrigation White Paper Today, Sparks Expected to Fly in Assembly
HYDERABAD: A fresh round of fireworks between the Congress and the BRS is on the cards for Saturday in the Assembly with the government all set to table the White Paper on the irrigation sector. It expected to lay bare as to how the BRS government destroyed the irrigation sector during its nearly ten-year rule.
On Friday evening, Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar sought the views of all the parties in the House on when to have the discussion on the White Paper. After the Opposition parties gave their opinion, he adjourned the House for the day.
While former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao insisted that the White Paper be tabled straightaway, to be followed by a discussion, saying the BRS had prepared for it and that they had made other plans for Saturday, the BJP said its MLAs might not be in the House as they have to attend an important party meeting in Delhi. BJP floor leader Aleti Maheswara Reddy, however, said the government must answer the question as to why it was reluctant to ask the CBI to probe all aspects of the Kaleshwaram project.
Incidentally, Saturday marks the 70th birthday of BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and the party has made elaborate plans to celebrate the event. The introduction of the White Paper followed by a discussion without all the BRS MLAs present in the House could be seen as the Opposition party not willing to defend its record on the irrigation sector when it was in power.