Hyderabad: Telangana Rakshana Sena (TRS) chief K. Kavitha on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the state’s severe drought situation and provide immediate support, including surplus free power, claiming that around 60 lakh farmers were facing distress.
Kavitha hit out at the Congress-led Telangana government, alleging that it had failed to effectively respond to the drought and had not declared drought-hit mandals, thereby limiting access to assistance from the Union government.
“Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is in a helpless state, unable to even identify drought mandals when the state is gripped by a severe famine-like drought,” Kavitha said.
She appealed to the Centre to extend support to Telangana and other southern states facing water and agricultural distress. “Wherever you have excess power, please give us free power,” she said, adding that 24-hour free power could help farmers during the crisis.
Kavitha also alleged that Telangana’s water resources were being diverted to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and criticised the state government over the alleged delay in completing irrigation projects, including the Nallapoor reservoir. She claimed that such projects could have helped improve groundwater levels and support irrigation in the Kalvakurthi ayacut.
“Revanth Reddy is packing up our water and sending it as a gift pack to Chandrababu,” she alleged, referring to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Kavitha attributed the drought conditions to the impact of “Super El-Nino” and said the Centre should urgently assess the situation in Telangana and other southern states.
Separately, she criticised the demand for resignations following youth protests over examination paper leaks, arguing that individual resignations would not address systemic problems.
“The system has to change,” Kavitha said, calling for structural reforms in examination agencies and greater accountability.
On electoral reforms, she said removing an individual, including the Chief Election Commissioner, would not by itself restore public confidence. Kavitha advocated a return to paper ballots, saying deeper institutional reforms were necessary to strengthen electoral integrity and public trust.
