The Sircilla MLA said that if the BJP was telling the truth that Telangana has become an ATM for Congress it should immediately order an inquiry.
Published Nov 12, 2024 | 2:16 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 12, 2024 | 2:24 PM
BRS working president KT Rama Rao. (File pic)
BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Tuesday, 12 November, demanded that the Prime Minister order an inquiry into the issue of “office of profit” by Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in awarding Amurt 2.0 tender to Sodha Infrastructure.
The company is owned by the chief minister’s brother-in-law Srujan Reddy.
Speaking to reporters at the party office in Delhi, the Sircilla MLA said that if the BJP was telling the truth that Telangana has become an ATM for Congress it should immediately order an inquiry.
“It is not enough for the prime minister to say in election rallies in Maharashtra that the Congress was corrupt. He should back his allegations with action,” he said, asserting that it is a litmus test for the BJP to prove its credibility.
Rama Rao said that his party would expose the double-speak of Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi that he was opposed to crony capitalism while allowing it in Telangana.
The BRS leader predicted that both Revanth Reddy and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy would have to step down from office very soon as they had violated the office of profit rules under Article 191 by resorting to nepotism.
He also urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to keep a strict vigil on the border of Telangana and Maharashtra as he came to know that money was flowing like a floodtide into the neighbouring state.
Rama Rao said that making a representation to Manohar Lal Khattar on the Amrut 2.0 scam was only the beginning of his fight against Congress and Revanth Reddy.
“I have lined up a number of representations with details of scams that the Congress has been reporting to. After Amrut 2.0, I will expose the scam in which Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy is involved. There is no question of sparing the Congress, no matter what,” he said, adding that Khattar had sought time till the Parliament session for him to take action on the representation.
“If he does not, the BRS will raise the issue in Rajya Sabha,” he said.
The BRS working president also alleged that Revanth Reddy splurged ₹300 crore of Telangana people’s money on issuing advertisements in newspapers in Maharashtra to purvey lies that all the welfare schemes promised ahead of Assembly elections were being implemented in his home state.
“How can he waste the money of the people of Telangana like this?” he asked.
He ridiculed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge for saying that the BJP had purchased the MLAs in Maharashtra as if they were goats.
“The Congress president had conveniently forgotten how it had turned Telangana into a “goat mandi.” The Congress purchased 10 such goats from the BRS,” he said and blamed the Congress for starting Aya Ram, Gaya Ram culture.
He also poked fun at Kharga saying that GOAT also stood for Greatest of All Times which is applicable to the party in its ability in engineering definitions.
The BRS leader said that on several occasions it had been proved beyond any iota of doubt that both the Congress and the BJP were working hand in glove in Telangana.
“The BJP has eight MPs but has any one of them opened his voice against Revanth Reddy so far? On the other hand, whenever there is any allegation against Revanth Reddy, it was Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar who goes to his rescue,” Rama Rao said.
Rama Rao said that he was not afraid if the BJP intends to file any cases against him. “At this very moment, I am in Delhi. In the afternoon I will be flying back home to Hyderabad. Any investigation agency is free to come and question me on any issue,” he said.
The BRS leader said that though the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had raided Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy’s residence for about five weeks, so far there is no word about what has happened in the investigation.
“I want Ponguleti to say whether he met Adani or not in a hotel in Hyderabad when the latter visited recently and sought his help to get him off the ED’s hook?” he asked
He appealed to the people of Maharashtra to vote for only regional parties not to either the Congress or the BJP. In West Bengal and UP, it was the regional parties which stood up against the national parties, he said.
He referred to trouble at Lagicherla in Vikarabad district in Telangana which is part of Revanth Reddy’s home constituency of Kodangal and said it was because of the greed of Revanth Reddy to help his son-in-law by acquiring land for him to facilitate setting up a pharma factory.
“The government was now trying to arrest the farmers who staged protests against the attempts to acquire their lands. The chief minister is not in a position to visit his constituency without security. “Never in the history of Telangana, were there any instances of people attacking the collector of their own district,” Rama Rao said.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
