HYDERABAD: Holding Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao accountable for the sinking of six piers of Kaleshwaram project’s Medigadda barrage, TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy on Saturday alleged that the Kalvakuntlas were a family of “economic terrorists” and said that the Centre should order a CBI probe.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, Revanth pointed out that T Harish Rao was the state’s first irrigation minister, a portfolio then handled by the chief minister himself. Despite this, the CM was trying to trivialize the issue and not speaking about it though the piers had caved in and the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) had exposed the flaws, Revanth said.
A report submitted by the NDSA to the Centre has said that the sinking of the piers was due to a combination of various issues involving failure in planning, design, quality control, and operation and maintenance.
Revanth claimed that the BRS government was aware of the flaws in the design and substandard work in the project, and said Medigadda was “not designed as per the plan and construction was not as per the design”. Kaleshwaram fell victim to the chief minister’s thirst for money and caved in, he alleged and demanded the family’s arrest over economic offenses. He demanded that the BJP-led Central government launch a CBI inquiry, along with a probe by an expert committee with officers from other states, into the alleged corruption and irregularities such as planning, design, construction and maintenance aspects in the Kaleshwaram project.
Coming down heavily on the BRS government, he claimed that it entered into an agreement for about Rs 80,000 crore, and increased the project cost in the revised estimates to `1.5 lakh crore. He said that KCR has invented a new phrase — “redesigning of projects” — after coming to power, and changed the proposed site from Tummidihetti to Medigadda.
Highlighting the report given by the NDSA, Revanth said that the Annaram and Sundilla barrages under the same Kaleshwaram project were facing a similar threat and called for a thorough investigation.
Revanth claimed that the Congress did not consider Kaleshwaram as part of its election agenda. He said that their agenda was all about their guarantees and what they were going to do to help the people.
Revanth set to file papers for Kamareddy on November 8
HYDERABAD: Key functionaries of the Telangana Congress met on Saturday to discuss the strategy to be adopted for the Kamareddy Assembly segment, where TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy will be taking on Chief Minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Those privy to information said that Revanth will file his nominations on November 6 from Kodangal and on November 8 from Kamareddy.
AICC Telangana in-charge Manikrao Thakre held separate meetings with Revanth and Shabbir Ali, who had earlier contested from the Kamareddy segment. During the meetings, the party leadership discussed fielding Shabbir Ali from the Nizamabad Urban segment. It may be mentioned here that TPCC working president B Mahesh Kumar Goud is aspiring for the Nizamabad Urban ticket.
Meanwhile, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal is likely to hold a video conference with the key functionaries in Telangana before releasing the third list.
Thakre told TNIE that the third list of candidates may be released any day now. He said that the party was trying to release the list as early as possible