Published May 21, 2025 | 8:15 PM ⚊ Updated May 21, 2025 | 8:15 PM
BRS Working President KT Rama Rao. (X)
Synopsis: Responding to Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Commission’s notices, KT Rama Rao said an “incompetent” Congress government in Telangana is indulging in attention-diversion tactics to hide its failures.
The notice issued to former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao is part of the Congress government in Telangana to divert public attention from its failures and alleged corruption, BRS Working President KT Rama Rao said on Wednesday, 21 May.
KTR — as Rama Rao is popularly known — was responding to the Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose Commission, probing the irregularities in the construction of the Kaleshwaram project, issuing summons to Chandrashekar Rao and T Harish Rao.
Speaking to reporters in Nalgonda, where he attended a private function, KTR alleged that the Congress was resorting to attention-diversion tactics to mask its commission-driven corruption and failure to implement pre-poll promises even after 17 months in power.
He also came down heavily on the government’s “failure” in retrieving the bodies of workers, presumably killed in the 22 February Srisailam tunnel collapse.
KTR said the Congress’s much-touted “people’s governance” had turned into a “percentage governance,” with the ruling party MLAs and ministers openly admitting that no work moved in the state without paying 20-30 percent commission.
He cited the incident of contractors staging a protest outside the Deputy Chief Minister’s chamber as the “peak of Congress’s corruption.” KTR further accused the government of failing to fulfill its promises due to administrative incompetence.
On the Kaleshwaram project, KTR alleged that the BJP and Congress were hatching a conspiracy to portray it as a failure. The Commission’s notice to KCR, he said, was a part of this plot.
KTR dismissed the notices as “flimsy” and expressed confidence in the judiciary, stating that the “truth will prevail”. Reflecting his faith in divine justice, he added that those who worked for Telangana’s welfare would be protected.
The BRS leader accused the Congress government of incompetence in addressing infrastructure mishaps, such as the collapse of the Sunkishala retaining wall, the submersion of the Vattem pump house, and the repeated breaches of the Peddavagu project. The government had not initiated inquiries or held anyone accountable.
He questioned the government’s inaction, suggesting ulterior motives. The government’s response to the Srisailam Left Bank Canal tunnel collapse smacked of incompetence, and it could not retrieve the bodies of those who died even after three months.
KTR remarked that a competent government could have “brought human beings back from Mars” by that time, but the Congress administration could not even retrieve bodies from the collapsed part of the tunnel.
Accusing the Congress of not acting on its six guarantees, KTR warned that the BRS would not remain silent. He vowed to fight on behalf of the 1.68 crore women awaiting the promised ₹2,500 monthly financial assistance, parents seeking the promised gold for their daughters’ marriages, and senior citizens demanding the ₹4,000 monthly pension.
KTR asserted that the BRS would hold the Congress accountable until every election promise was fulfilled. He warned that the people of Telangana would revolt if the government continued its tactics of “deception, destruction, and distraction”.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
