Hyderabad, Sep 26 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao on Friday alleged that the Congress government in Telangana imposed a debt burden of Rs 15,000 crore on people with its ‘irresponsible’ and ‘reckless’ decision to take over the Hyderabad Metro project.

He alleged that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s ‘personal vendetta, arrogance, and dictatorial tendencies’ forced construction major L&T to abruptly withdraw from the Hyderabad Metro project.

The BRS leader believes that the decision to take over Hyderabad Metro is linked to L&T’s willingness to repair the Medigadda barrage at its own expense.

The Medigadda barrage is part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project built during the BRS regime.

KTR said that L&T’s refusal to repair Medigadda at its own expense prevented Revanth Reddy’s propaganda of portraying Kaleshwaram as a “failure”, and it became the root cause of the Chief Minister’s grudge against the company. From that point onwards, the government targeted and harassed L&T until it was driven out of the state, he said.

Addressing a press conference, KTR detailed the conspiracies and failures of the Congress government behind L&T’s exit.

He recalled how the BRS government supported and safeguarded the Metro project from 2014 onwards, when only 20-25 per cent of work was completed. With the personal assurance of then CM KCR, L&T accelerated works, leading to the inauguration of the first phase by PM Modi in 2017. Even during COVID, when the company feared losses, KCR extended a soft loan of Rs 3,000 crore, of which Rs 900 crore was released, to protect the project. Under BRS, Metro ridership grew to 5 lakh daily, expanded to 69 km, and became India’s second-largest network with major IT corridor connectivity.

KTR contrasted this with Congress rule, accusing Revanth Reddy of sabotaging the Airport Metro, blackmailing L&T in Medigadda repairs, and diverting projects to his followers. He said that despite a 2070 lease, L&T was forced to exit because of the CM’s revenge politics and hunger for Metro lands.

He alleged that the government’s financial recklessness had now added Rs 15,000 crore more debt on top of Telangana’s already massive Rs 2.2 lakh crore borrowing, with nothing to show in return. According to him, the entire decision was a conspiracy to capture the 280 acres of valuable Metro lands and hand them to the CM’s close associates.

KTR demanded to know what commissions and kickbacks were involved, why the decision was taken without Cabinet discussion, and called for a central government probe. He declared that BRS will take the issue to the people, exposing how a Rs 20,000 crore asset created under BRS has been turned into a Rs 15,000 crore liability under Congress.

–IANS

ms/uk