Hyderabad, June 23 (IANS) BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday alleged that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy are jointly staging political dramas over the Hyderabad Metro Rail issue while concealing what he described as a massive scam involving Metro Rail assets worth nearly Rs 30,000 crore.

Addressing an extensive meeting of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) cadres in Serilingampally, he said Revanth Reddy was attempting to hand over nearly 250 acres of valuable Metro Rail-linked land and assets worth Rs 30,000 crore to his family members, relatives and close associates.

He alleged that the Chief Minister had blackmailed L&T Metro Rail officials and forced them out of the State to facilitate the takeover of these assets.

KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known, further alleged that Revanth Reddy was trying to burden Telangana’s people with L&T Metro Rail’s debt of nearly Rs 14,000 crore solely to gain control over the Metro Rail assets. He claimed that the State government was willing to assume liabilities that should have remained with the private company, thereby pushing the Metro Rail project towards financial distress.

The BRS leader said the Chief Minister’s sudden concern for the Metro Rail project was merely a cover for a larger financial scandal. He asserted that BRS had consistently exposed alleged scams of the Congress government in advance and was now warning the public about another major scam in the making.

KTR said the people of Telangana would eventually know who purchases and sells the Metro-linked lands worth Rs 30,000 crore and how these assets ultimately reach members of Revanth Reddy’s family.

Questioning the sincerity of both the BJP and the Congress governments, KTR asked why the Centre had failed to approve the Metro Rail expansion proposed by the previous BRS government from Lakdikapul to Patancheru if it was genuinely committed to Telangana’s development.

He noted that the Union government had sanctioned Metro projects for several smaller cities in Uttar Pradesh but failed to extend similar support to Telangana. He accused Revanth Reddy and Kishan Reddy of pretending to differ in Hyderabad while acting in concert in New Delhi to attract public attention.

KTR said people would remember that Revanth Reddy cancelled the Airport Metro project while Kishan Reddy failed to secure approval for Metro expansion from the Centre.

He recalled that the previous BRS government had launched the Hyderabad Airport Metro Express project from the Financial District to the Airport without requiring major land acquisition. Had the project continued, it would have been completed by now, significantly reducing traffic congestion for lakhs of commuters, he said.

According to KTR, the Airport Metro project was shelved after Revanth Reddy assumed office due to a lack of vision and understanding of developmental priorities.

The BRS leader reminded the gathering that while the Congress government had initiated the Hyderabad Metro Rail project and later abandoned it, former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ensured that more than 70 per cent of the project was completed and made operational for public benefit.

–IANS

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