Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Wednesday accused Rahul Gandhi of being behind the alleged scam related to the Musi Riverfront project. He claimed that the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was responsible for all the political drama happening in Telangana. KTR mentioned that it wasn’t just the Chief Minister, Revanth Reddy, but Rahul Gandhi who was pulling the strings.
In a casual conversation with the media at Telangana Bhavan, KTR criticized Rahul Gandhi for his contradictory actions. He pointed out that while Rahul opposed the use of bulldozers in other states, he was allowing them in Telangana. KTR also suggested that Rahul Gandhi was targeting Telangana to raise money for upcoming elections in five states. He sarcastically remarked that Rahul saw Telangana as a “golden duck” for making money, especially since the party was struggling in Karnataka due to its Chief Minister facing legal issues.
KTR raised several concerns about the Musi Riverfront project. He questioned the need for Rs 1.5 lakh crore to be spent on the project and asked whether any public hearing or social assessment had been done. He also criticized the government for not providing proper rehabilitation to the people displaced by the project. According to him, the project was more about “lootification” than beautification.
The BRS leader further alleged that the real estate sector in the state was suffering due to what he called the “HYDRA and RR tax.” He claimed that there was already a “Rahul, Revanth tax” in the state, and added that even Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law had recently been in Telangana. KTR also accused individuals like Fayeem Qureshi, Uday Simha Reddy, Rajender, and AV Reddy of fixing percentages, which had frightened real estate developers from launching new projects.
KTR then talked about the BRS government’s own plans for the Musi development project. He mentioned that their version of the project was initially estimated to cost Rs 16,000 crore. He criticized Minister D Sridhar Babu, saying that Babu didn’t even know the approved cost of the project. KTR expressed surprise that the Musi Riverfront project cost was drastically higher compared to the Namami Gange project, which costs Rs 17 crore per kilometer, while the Musi project was set to cost Rs 2,700 crore.
He also pointed out that the Governor had given approval for the project, even though there was no Detailed Project Report (DPR), and suggested that the central government might also be supporting it.
Finally, KTR challenged the Chief Minister to take action against officials who were allowing the construction of houses illegally. He also dared Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy to visit the people living near the Musi river belt without any security.
