In a sharp escalation of political hostilities, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao has launched a scathing attack on Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, accusing him of orchestrating what he termed the biggest corruption conspiracy in the state's history under the guise of the Musi River rejuvenation project.
Allegations of Real Estate Exploitation and Forced Evictions
KTR, in a statement issued on Friday, alleged that the Congress government's real objective is large-scale real estate exploitation rather than river cleansing. He charged the administration with forcibly evicting poor and middle-class residents from prime land in central Hyderabad to benefit benamis and party loyalists. "For this, governance has been reduced to real estate dealings," he claimed.
The BRS leader further accused Chief Minister Reddy of having no genuine vision for the Musi, stating that "poison runs through every nerve" of the CM. He attributed this to Reddy's anger against those questioning his alleged illegal wealth and opposing the current form of the project. KTR even quipped that the language used by the Chief Minister was more foul-smelling than the polluted Musi itself.
Questioning the Rs 1.5 Lakh Crore Figure and Premature Demolitions
Rama Rao raised serious questions about the financial credibility of the government's announcements. He pointed out a major contradiction: how could CM Revanth Reddy announce expenditure figures touching Rs 1.5 lakh crore when the Detailed Project Report (DPR), by the government's own admission, would take at least another year to prepare?
"If the DPR is not ready, how were such massive estimates announced?" KTR demanded. He also sought an explanation for why bulldozers were deployed to demolish homes of the poor even before statutory planning and approvals were in place, calling it a heartless act.
Claims of a 'Deliberate Conspiracy' and Hypocrisy
KTR alleged that under the veil of Musi 'beautification', the Congress government is preparing for a massive financial loot. He made a grave accusation that the government is attempting to hand over key aspects of the project to a private agency which, he claimed, is blacklisted and facing Interpol Red Corner notices.
"How can a firm with such a background be entrusted with a project of this scale?" he asked, labeling it a deliberate conspiracy to facilitate corruption.
He charged the CM with planning to demolish houses of over one lakh people living along the Musi, rendering them homeless. "Congress rule means demolitions, not construction," KTR stated, highlighting what he called the government's true character. He pointed to alleged hypocrisy, noting that illegal guest houses built by ministers near Himayat Sagar and Osman Sagar were left untouched while poor families were being evicted without compassion.
The allegations set the stage for a major political confrontation in the state assembly, with the multi-crore Musi project now at the center of a raging corruption storm.
