Medigadda barrage pier sinking: Telangana sacks Irrigation Engineer-in-Chief Muralidhar Rao

The action against them has been a long time coming, with the Congress alleging that Muralidhar Rao was the apple of former chief minister and BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao’s eye.

He played a key role in redesigning the earlier Pranahita-Chevella Project into the KLIS.

Muralidhar Rao also represented Telangana in the recent Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) meeting where the state allegedly allowed the board to take control of the irrigation projects on the Krishna river.

The development turned out to be a major embarrassment for the ruling Congress in Telangana, with the BRS attacking him and the party ever since.

Related: Revanth Reddy dares KCR and Jagan over Krishna waters

Allegations of corruption

The measure came against the backdrop of the Congress government readying its arsenal to attack the BRS in the Assembly for the “mind-boggling” corruption in the execution of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).

The state government has already written to the chief justice of the Telangana High Court to spare a sitting judge to probe the sinking of the piers. The response is awaited.

After the Congress came to power in the state, Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy organised a presentation on Medigadda where Muralidhar Rao explained to the people what went wrong with the piers of the barrage.