Congress hopes to carry Telangana momentum into LS polls, but water crisis a hurdle

Riding high on last year’s Assembly election victory, the Congress in Telangana has set a target of winning 14 of the state’s 17 Lok Sabha seats in the polls but is facing its first major test amid a water crisis.

Even as the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) is struggling to supply potable water in the city, reservoirs, ponds and tanks across the state are drying up fast. “The situation across the state is precarious,” said a water board official.

The Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar reservoirs, which are the largest in Hyderabad and cater to its drinking water needs, are not filled to capacity. While Osman Sagar’s maximum capacity is 3.9 thousand million cubic feet (TMC), as of Friday its storage stood at 2.5 TMC. In Himayat Sagar, the storage is 2 TMC while its full capacity is 2.9 TMC.

The Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam reservoirs, on the Krishna river, have been a bone of contention between the Congress and BRS over their management and are affected the most. While the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir has a maximum capacity of 312.4 TMC, the water level as of Friday stood at 128.6 TMC. In Srisailam, as against the maximum capacity of 215.8 TMC, the water level stood at 33.7 TMC. Other reservoirs such as Singur, Akkampally and Manjira have water levels below maximum storage.

Though the heat is only expected to intensify in the coming weeks and the water crisis may worsen, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the Congress would perform well in the polls. “Our target is to win at least 14 seats in Telangana,” he told The Indian Express.

Reassuring farmers, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy recently said the state government was making all efforts to mitigate the situation. “Whatever the