While floodwaters swept through the Krishna and Godavari river basins this season, Telangana farmers are reportedly buying water by the tanker to save their dying crops — and BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao wants everyone to know exactly who he holds responsible. In a pointed post on 23 October 2026, KTR accused the Congress government in Telangana of letting two massive lift-irrigation projects sit idle even as rivers ran flush with water.

Translating his Telugu post: 'ఇది కాలం తెచ్చిన కరువు కాదు కాంగ్రెస్ తెచ్చిన కరువు!' — 'This is not a drought brought by time; this is a drought brought by Congress!' KTR alleged that despite 250 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of floodwater flowing down the Krishna this year, the pumps of the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project were not run. Similarly, he claimed 750 TMC of Godavari floodwater went unused because the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project pumps sat silent. The result, he says: Telangana farmers buying tanker water to pour on withering standing crops.

Two flagship projects, one damaging allegation

The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project — built on the Godavari river between 2015 and 2019 under the BRS government — was conceived as one of the world's largest multi-stage lift irrigation schemes, meant to carry water across drought-prone Telangana districts. The Palamuru-Rangareddy project, targeting historically water-scarce districts including Mahbubnagar and Rangareddy, received its major administrative and financial push under the same BRS administration after state formation in 2014.

Both projects represent enormous capital investment and political capital for BRS. Allegations that their pumps are lying idle during a high-flood season cut at the heart of what the Congress government, in power since December 2023, is doing with the infrastructure it inherited.

The Congress counter-narrative — and what it cannot answer

Since taking office under Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, the Telangana Congress government has consistently questioned the costs, structural integrity, and operational efficacy of Kaleshwaram in particular — a project that faced engineering scrutiny even before the election. That critique gave Congress a political cushion: if the projects are flawed, running them is irresponsible. But KTR's post flips the frame sharply. When rivers are in flood and farms are in crisis simultaneously, the question of 'why aren't the pumps running' becomes harder to deflect.

The broader pattern here is well-established: since the December 2023 election, BRS and Congress have been locked in a grinding war of attribution over Telangana's irrigation legacy — who built it, who broke it, who benefits from it. Farmers caught between the two narratives are, according to KTR's account, currently paying cash for tanker water.

Why flood season pump-operation matters

Lift irrigation projects are designed to pump river water — especially during high-flood periods when surface levels are naturally elevated and pumping costs are lower — into reservoirs and distribution networks that feed farms weeks or months later. Missing a flood window does not just mean missing water today; it can mean empty reservoirs heading into the dry season. If KTR's claim holds, the cost to Telangana's kharif crop calendar could extend well beyond this season's damaged fields.

The Telangana irrigation department has not issued a public statement on pump-operation status during the current flood season, and legislative scrutiny of project maintenance remains a key watch-point in the coming assembly session.

The image of a farmer pouring tanker water onto a dying crop, in a state that built two of India's most ambitious river-lift systems, is the kind of political picture that outlasts any press conference — and KTR knows it.