Governor Did Not Mention Centre’s Role In Kaleswaram: Dattatreya

Hyderabad: Former Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya today said Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan should have mentioned Centre's "contribution" to Kaleswaram irrigation project during his visit yesterday.

Narasimhan had praised Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for taking up the gigantic project and initiating steps to complete it, during his visit. The governor had said that he wanted KCR to be called as "Kaleswaram Chandrasekhar Rao" and Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao as "Kaleswar Rao".

His praise for the CM and Harish Rao had evoked criticism from Congress leaders who alleged that the governor was biased towards the ruling TRS party. Dattatreya said he did not intend to escalate the issue further and bring it to the notice of higher authorities.

"I don't find fault with the governor for visiting Kaleswaram Project. Governor praised the project and the Chief Minister (KCR) also. I don't comment on that. I feel the governor should have mentioned the role of Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (in the project) because the Centre has been supporting it in a big way," Dattatreya told reporters here.

He said it would have been "nice" had the governor mentioned the role of the Centre or the prime minister because the state government would never mention about the contribution of the Centre to the project.

"They (state government) claim that the entire project is completed with their own resources. At least the governor should have mentioned the names of the Centre or Modi," Dattatreya said. Kaleshwaram Project, located around 300 kms away from Hyderabad, is an offshoot of the Pranahita Chevella lift irrigation scheme Project.

The project holds the key to the TRS government's promise of providing irrigation facility to one crore acres of land under all projects/tanks. Narasimhan had recently came under fire from some BJP leaders of Andhra Pradesh over his "functioning".

Andhra Pradesh BJP president Kambhampati Hari Babu had demanded appointment of a governor exclusively for the state at the earliest for "smooth functioning of the administration". Terming the governor as a "visiting guest" of the state, BJP floor leader in Andhra Pradesh Assembly P Vishnu Kumar Raju had accused him of being "biased against AP". (PTI)