HYDERABAD : BRS working president KT Rama Rao has denied involvement in the phone-tapping case that allegedly occurred during the tenure of the previous BRS government and slammed Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for dragging his name into the issue.
“I have nothing to do with the phone-tapping case. I will take legal action against all those, including the CM, making baseless allegations against me,” asserted the former IT minister.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, he demanded a probe into all phone-tapping allegations since 2004. He recalled how some ministers in the current Congress government had accused former chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh N Kiran Kumar Reddy of tapping their phones during the Telangana movement. According to Rama Rao, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar was also among those who alleged that the Kiran Kumar Reddy-led government had resorted to tapping the phones of Congress leaders.
“The government has changed in the state, not officials. Police officers like Intelligence ADG Shivdhar Reddy, TSPSC chairman Mahender Reddy and DGP Ravi Gupta played a key role in the intelligence wing during previous governments. Weren’t they responsible for phone tapping,” he wondered.
Rama Rao said that whenever he received a message that his phone was also under surveillance, he shared it with people. He alleged that the Congress government was spending a lot of time spreading false propaganda and advised the chief minister to focus on tackling the drinking water problem, not phone tapping.
‘Revanth not concerned over water issues’
The former minister alleged that though the people were suffering due to a drinking water shortage, Revanth was not showing any concern.
‘Water shortage due to govt’1
“He [Revanth] is showing interest only in sending money to the Congress high command, not ensuring the supply of water for drinking and irrigation purposes,” Rama Rao added.
Claiming that the change in government in the state triggered a water tanker rush in Hyderabad, he said, “Every day 2.3 lakh tankers are being booked in Hyderabad and it’s proving to be a financial burden for the people. This drinking water scarcity is not caused by nature. The shortage is only due to the incompetence of the Congress government. Why is there a shortage of drinking water despite the state recording 14% more rainfall than in 2023? There is water available in the projects, but the government does not have the wisdom to manage it.”
Rama Rao said that even though there was water in the Kaleshwaram project, lakhs of acres of crops had dried up. “Had the Medigadda project been repaired and the pumps turned on, even an acre of crop would not have dried up,” Rama Rao said.
