HYDERABAD: TPCC president and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday demanded the immediate resignation of IT and MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao to facilitate an unbiased probe into the construction of a farmhouse at Janwada in Shankarpally mandal of Rangareddy district.
Uttam asked Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to expel his son from the Cabinet post if the latter did not resign voluntarily. Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, he said that a majority of the members in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) joint committee work in ministries led by Rama Rao. This would therefore not allow the inquiry to be fair, said Uttam.
TPCC working president and Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy, who is the petitioner in the NGT, alleged that “KTR’s luxurious farmhouse” was built within the catchment area of Osmansagar lake, a lifeline for the city’s drinking water requirements.
He alleged that KTR had violated GO 111 despite being a Minister. Revanth said he was ready to prove that the land on which the farmhouse was built, was in KTR’s wife Shailima’s name. Former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, Congress senior leaders Mohd Ali Shabbir and Gudur Narayana Reddy were present at the press conference.
Meanwhile, reacting to the NGT’s orders, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “It is high time the NGT wakes up and stops taking directives from governments. It was set up in 2010 to check governmental insensitivity to environmental laws and give the public a chance to hold governments to account.”