NIZAMABAD : Banswada MLA and former Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy staged a protest at Siddapur reservoir site on Sunday night, slamming the state government for not releasing funds for the project as well as the indifference of officials towards the issue.
Speaking to the irrigation officials in the presence of villagers, he expressed his displeasure over the way the government and ministers have been ignoring his request for funds and how the officials are even refusing to attend to his calls. “I have requested the chief minister at least 20 times to release funds. But no funds have been released so far,” he said.
The seven-time MLA from Banswada also lamented that even officials are not responding to his calls. “I served as a minister for 20 years. During that time, officials used to respond whenever I called. Previously, the officials used to send government orders directly to me. Now, the officials are not even responding to my calls.”
Srinivas Reddy also threatened to continue his protest at the project site till the government releases funds. The officials, however, managed to convince him to leave the place. It may be mentioned here that the construction of Siddapur reservoir began in Varni mandal of Nizamabad district back in 2022 during the BRS regime.
His outburst has raised quite a few eyebrows as he is accused of defecting to the ruling Congress even though he won the 2023 Assembly election on a BRS ticket. He is one of the 10 “turncoat” MLAs against whom the BRS moved the court, seeking their disqualification as legislators. Current Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar, however, dismissed the disqualification petition citing lack of evidence of defection.