Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao maintained that water could be lifted from the Kannepalli pumphouse without storing water in the Medigadda barrage, and rubbished the government’s claims that lifting water would be dangerous to the already damaged structure.Speaking to reporters at the Telangana Bhavan, if the pumps were operated for the next 100 days all the reservoirs, including Mid Manair, Lower Manair, Mallanna Sagar, Kondapochamma Sagar and Baswapur, could be filled benefitting farmers in 8 to 9 districts. He cited appeals made by retired engineers urging the government to utilise the available river flows to avert a potential drought.Further questioning claims that there were not enough flows, he asked how come neighbouring Andhra Pradesh continued lifting Godavari waters through its Pattiseema project. “Farmers are watching this,” he said.He also rejected the government’s contention that lifting water would endanger Bhadrachalam due to flood risks, describing the claim as misleading and asserting that Medigadda had no bearing on water lifting from Kannepalli.Mr. Rama Rao further alleged that the Congress government was acting out of political hostility towards projects executed during the BRS regime and warned that if the government continued to ignore demands from farmers and experts, the BRS would announce a State-wide agitation in the coming weeks.78 seats to BRS in govt’s surveyThe BRS leader reiterated his claims that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s internal survey projected the BRS to win 78 Assembly seats if elections were held now. Several other surveys had also predicted a BRS victory, he claimed.“If the Chief Minister claims he never commissioned such a survey, he should publicly swear before God that no such survey was conducted. If he is confident about his governance, let him dissolve the Assembly or conduct by-elections,” Mr. Rama Rao said. Published - July 11, 2026 07:17 pm IST