A promise sworn before a local goddess, a deadline of December 2026, and thousands of constituents gathered as witnesses — Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy raised the stakes in his home constituency of Kodangal on Tuesday, 10 November, pledging to end the drought-prone region's water crisis by routing Krishna river water to its parched farmlands before the year is out.

The oath sworn at Polepalli Yellamma's feet

Revanth Reddy addressed thousands of residents who had turned out for what he called a Praja Palana (public governance) event. In Telugu, he declared: 'With Polepalli Yellamma as my witness, I promise to bring Krishna waters and irrigate Kodangal's fallow lands by December.' The invocation of the local deity — revered across the Narayanpet district region — was deliberate. It transformed a political pledge into a solemn community covenant, one the CM will be held to by both his voters and his own words.

Thanking the crowd, Revanth Reddy said the 'mountain of strength' his constituents had given him would fuel continuous work to make Telangana the number-one developed state in India. The twin messages — constituency-level irrigation and state-wide ambition — anchored the gathering's mood.

Kodangal's dry-land problem and the Krishna water question

Kodangal, the assembly constituency Revanth Reddy represents in Narayanpet district, is characterised by rainfed, drought-prone agriculture. Farmers here depend heavily on seasonal rains, with limited access to canal or lift-irrigation networks. The promise to bring Krishna river water to these 'fallow and barren lands' — Revanth Reddy's phrase — directly targets that vulnerability.

Telangana's access to Krishna basin water has been a live and contested issue since the 2014 bifurcation from Andhra Pradesh. The state has pursued additional allocations through lift irrigation schemes and tribunal processes for over a decade, making any extension of that network into Kodangal's dryland belt a continuation of a larger political and engineering priority.

A pattern of time-bound irrigation pledges in distress constituencies

This is not the first time a Telangana Chief Minister has made a time-bound irrigation commitment to a drought-affected constituency. Both the current Congress government and the predecessor BRS administration built significant political capital on promises to expand irrigation coverage. What gives this pledge added weight is the specificity: not 'soon' or 'in this term', but December 2026 — six weeks away from the date of the speech.

The specific engineering route, project name, and funding source for the Krishna water delivery to Kodangal have not been confirmed in public records. What will be watched closely in coming weeks are formal project notifications, budget allocations, and release schedules from existing upstream reservoirs that could feed any new lift-irrigation component targeting this belt.

Revanth Reddy has staked his credibility — and invoked divine witness — on a deadline that falls before the year closes. Kodangal's farmers, and his political opponents, will be counting the days.