The BRS government in Telangana had earlier taken a decision not to allow the central probe agency into the state.
Published Nov 05, 2023 | 7:06 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 05, 2023 | 8:17 PM
G Kishan Reddy. (gkishanreddy/Facebook)
Union Tourism Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy said he would bring the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to the state within two hours if Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao requested for a probe by it into the Medigadda Barrage lapses.
Kishan Reddy told reporters in Hyderabad on Sunday, 5 November, that if KCR signed the file at 2 pm, he would take the responsibility of bringing the CBI to the state by 4 pm to probe the lapses that had resulted in the partial sinking of a few pillars.
The BRS government in the state had earlier taken a decision not to allow the CBI into the state.
The investigating agency can carry out a probe only if the state government comes up with a request to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs or when it has been ordered by a court.
Kishan Reddy said that any central agency or bank would sanction money for any good project and based on the Detailed Project Report (DPR).
Kishan Reddy said that after learning about the sinking of pillars of the Medigadda Barrage, he had written to the Jal Shakti Ministry on the matter and that a team of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) visited the site.
It had written a letter to the state government on the matter and the dam safety authority has been set up to help with dam safety, he said.
KCR ప్రభుత్వం వాస్తవాలను దాచే ప్రయత్నం చేస్తోంది. తమ పొరపాట్లను కప్పిపుచ్చుకునే ప్రయత్నం చేస్తోంది.
ఈ KCR అవినీతి విధానాలకు ప్రజలే సమాధానం చెప్తారు. pic.twitter.com/WnWI3AJ4AT
— G Kishan Reddy (Modi Ka Parivar) (@kishanreddybjp) November 5, 2023
On the charge against the BJP that it only made corruption allegations against the BRS, and that BRS MLC Kavitha had not been arrested despite being questioned in the Delhi excise policy case, Kishan Reddy said probe agencies had also questioned former Congress president Sonia Gandhi but had not arrested her.
The investigating agencies take decisions as per law and the BJP does not interfere in them, he said.
Asked why leaders were quitting the BJP, Kishan Reddy said they were doing so due to their personal reasons and that the party did not need to worry as it was a cadre-based outfit.
“We will come to power as people are with us alone,” he said, adding that everyone would be accommodated in the party and everyone’s services would be utilised to serve the people.
Highlighting various development and welfare schemes introduced by the Union government in the state since 2014, Kishan Reddy said the BJP would appoint a chief minister who would be always available for the people and show how a double-engine government would be helpful for the overall development of the state.
Kishan Reddy also said KCR started his political career as a leader of the Congress and was thus a product of that party.
“There are many examples to say that the Congress and the BRS are one and the same,” he said, making it clear that there was no question of joining hands with the “Razakars” party.
On KCR’s decision to contest both the Gajwel and Kamareddy Assembly constituencies, Kishan Reddy said the BRS chief would lose in both constituencies.
The BRS, which wants to do politics with money, thinks it can buy people, but it cannot change the mindset of the people who are against the ruling party, he said.
If the Congress came to power in Telangana, then the situation currently prevailing in Karnataka after the May Assembly elections would be repeated in the state, added the BJP leader.
“If the economic situation in the state has to be improved, if the wishes of the martyrs are to be fulfilled, and if justice is to be done to all communities, the BJP coming to power is the only way,” he said.
Kishan Reddy also said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had insulted Backward Classes (BCs) by making light of the BJP’s announcement to make a BC leader the chief minister in Telangana.
Rahul had asked how the BJP could make a leader of the BC community the chief minister when it would only get a meagre percentage of the votes.
Kishan Reddy said anything was possible because the BCs constitute 55 percent of the state’s population unite.
Meanwhile, recalling late NT Rama Rao’s scheme of supplying rice at ₹2 per kg in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the BJP leader said it would have been meaningless had the TDP founder been questioned about implementing the popular scheme.
At a separate press conference, Karimnagar MP and former Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar challenged KCR to visit Medigadda barrage.
He said he would also visit the premises with experts from the irrigation wing.
The BJP would confiscate the properties of KCR if it was voted to power in Telangana, said Sanjay.
This, even as Kishan Reddy said Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the chief minister of Telangana, and where KCR lives now, would be turned into “Praja Pragathi Bhavan” (Peoples Development Bhavan).
