4 months ago
51
Newly-elected Telangana BJP MLAs have demanded the government to immediately write to the Centre to request a CBI probe into the ‘corruption’ related to the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP). They wanted an impartial investigation for the truth to come out since the White Paper issued had lacked precise details of the alleged corruption.
Addressing a press conference at the party office here on Friday, MLAs Payal Shankar, Suryanarayana Gupta, Ramarao Patel Pawar and Rakesh Reddy, said that people across TS had expected the government to come out with an account of the scam in the irrigation project but they were disappointed as the discussion itself did not happen.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, when he was an MP and TPCC president, has alleged that he had evidence to show largescale corruption in the project and had even accused the Centre of not taking any action. He should now immediately present the evidence to the Centre for a thorough probe, they demanded.
The MLAs charged that the government not holding any discussion about the irrigation sector has raised ‘doubts’ in the minds of the people about the real intention behind issuing the White Paper. Is it to convey to the people the government’s inability to implement the promises made before the polls because of the dire financial state of TS? they sought to know.
The BJP leaders also observed that the Congress leaders have already begun to show ‘softness’ towards BRS leaders in the very first session of the Assembly and wondered if the new government intended to follow the BRS government in forgetting the promises made to people.
We did not get a proper answer when we questioned the government about implementation of 200 units of free power. There was also no mention about the help in lakhs or crores of rupees given by the Narendra Modi government to Telangana. Also, the PM’s photo should be put alongside that of CM on Rajiv Aarogyasri scheme since the Centre provides substantial funds for the same, they demanded.
The MLAs also claimed that while they stuck to the time given despite being eight in number, the Majlis Party with “just seven MLAs” took most of the time of over two hours. In any case, Majlis MLAs have been talking only of one community. We had taken this partiality with the Legislative Affairs Minister, they said.
Minister for Irrigation, Food and Civil Supplies Uttam Kumar Reddy, however, came in for praise for “speaking facts about the meters to the agriculture pump sets” and wanted “BRS ex-Ministers T. Harish Rao and K.T. Rama Rao to apologise to the people of Telangana for carrying out a false propaganda against the Centre”.
The BJP leaders also wanted the government to focus on filling up the vacant jobs with a special task force under a sincere officer taking the help of all political parties within the next three months. This should be followed by grounding housing for the poor. These are the main issues requiring immediate attention as the last government had totally ignored the needs of the people even while destroying the institutions, they added.
