BRS warns siege over GRMB ‘review’
KTR says seven Telangana projects face a GRMB permissions review pushed by Andhra; dares Telangana BJP MPs to show up for Telangana, for once. The statutory Board exists — the seven-project agenda does not, on the record, yet.
The proposed review agenda was not on the record at the time of reporting.
BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao on Sunday warned of a siege of Jala Soudha if the BJP‑led Centre and the Telangana Congress government “play along” with a Godavari River Management Board exercise he says will review permissions for seven Telangana projects. He said Andhra Pradesh has sought cancellation or review of those approvals and dared Telangana BJP MPs to boycott any such meeting. (According to the report of his remarks to mediapersons.)
What is on the record: the GRMB is a statutory body under the Central government, created by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, with headquarters in Hyderabad and a mandate to administer and regulate notified Godavari projects. What is not published anywhere official at the time of writing: a GRMB meeting notice, an agenda, or a seven‑project list. GRMB’s own site does not carry one. The allegation remains KTR’s, and it is attributed as such.
KTR also hit the BJP for denying national‑project status to the Palamuru–Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and took a swipe at the state’s eight Congress and eight BJP MPs — “8 plus 8 equals zero” — over what he called silence when Telangana’s projects are in the dock. The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh earlier, and now the TDP government in Andhra, have both sparred with Telangana over river projects; the law places appraisal and regulation with the river boards and the Centre.
If there is a GRMB agenda to reopen Telangana’s approvals, it should be on paper. Until the BJP‑led Centre and the Congress government in Telangana produce it, KTR’s warning stands — and so does the question of which side Telangana’s BJP MPs are on.