KTR defends money transfer in Formula-E race and terms the case against him as rubbish

BRS working president K T Rama Rao addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Thursday (December 19, 2024).

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao defended the transfer of ₹55 crore to the organisers of the Formula-E race last year and said the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has no locus standi to book a case since there was no corruption in it at all.

Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan after the ACB booked a case against him on Thursday (December 19), KTR challenged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for a discussion in the Assembly and he would not be afraid of cases against him as he was part of ‘KCR’s army’.

“We will protest peacefully and fight the case legally,” he said even as he blamed the Chief Minister for the case and also accusing him of ‘misleading’ the Governor for clearance to file a case against him.

Reiterating his claims that the event elevated the image of Hyderabad globally and brought business worth ₹700 crore to the city as per Neilson’s report, he said. “People who don’t understand the value of such sports pushing Hyderabad’s image up across the continents are trying to find loopholes for settle political scores,” he claimed.

Mr. Rama Rao gave a detailed explanation of the transactions done to save the E-race from being snatched away from Hyderabad and said the transactions were clean and the money was safe with the organisers as revealed by them through a letter to the Congress government recently. He said he had asked the then Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar to transfer the money to fulfill the contractual obligations.

Displaying a picture of E-race Chief Championship Officer and Co-founder of Formula E Alberto Longo meeting Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, he claimed this meeting was kept a secret for reasons unknown. However, the communication between the Congress government and the organisers reflects that there was an intention to continue the E-race.

Mr. Rama Rao also revealed that the government could face legal and financial repercussions from the organisers for cancellation of the race and the process was actually on. He said in a similar scenario in Montreal, Canada, where a local government cancelled Formula-E race, the organisers successfully sued for damages.