Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Wednesday hit back at Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who threatened to drag him to the court for false allegations, stating that the latter was diverting the issue rather than answering questions raised by him over the Kaleshwaram project.
Responding to the remarks of the Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy said the party was ready for an open debate on the issue but the Chief Minister was avoiding the answers on key questions raised over the agreement made with Maharashtra.
On the Chief Minister’s threat of filing cases, Mr. Reddy said he was not afraid of such threats — and certainly not as an officer who had worked in the Indian Air Force.
“Being the first CM of the new State, KCR has to show some restraint and political maturity.” If the Chief Minister was sincere in the agreement why was he not releasing the Detailed Project Report (DPR), he asked, adding that no other State perhaps had taken up a project of such magnitude without a DPR. The Rs. 85,000 crore proposed to be spent on the project belonged to the people of Telangana and they certainly would like to know how many acres would get irrigation facility.
Mr. Reddy wondered why the Government should be celebrating when Telangana was actually losing due to the re-designing. The Chief Minister was misleading people, publishing huge advertisements in the print media with false figures. He claimed that a committee of retired engineers appointed by the Chief Minister had favoured a project at Tummidihatti at a height of 152 metres. There were no global tenders for such a massive project, he said.
The TPCC chief said Telangana had become a reality because of Sonia Gandhi and the constant efforts of their MPs who fought inside and outside Parliament and not because of a party that had a single MP.
Congress ready for an open debate on agreement with Maharashtra
– N. Uttam Kumar Reddy
TPCC chief
