BRS MLAs at the Legislature Party office holding placards on the Formula-E case before attending the Assembly session on December 20, 2024. File
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
HYDERABAD
Working president of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former Minister K.T. Rama Rao has reiterated that he is all prepared to face the Formula E race legally as Telangana Government is going ahead with the case despite the fact that there is no iota of corruption involved in it.
In an informal chat with newspersons on the Assembly premises during the break time on Friday (December 20, 2024), the BRS MLA said even the talk of Minister Ponnam Prabhakar had made it clear that there was no corruption in the case. Mr. Rama Rao stated that Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) was a corporation and there was a provision in the Act that funds could be spent through it for any developmental activity pertaining to the City.
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On the special investigation team formed by the government into the leasing of Outer Ring Road (ORR), he said, “Toll, Operate and Transfer (TOT) system was already in use across the country and their (BRS) government had utilised the money from ORR TOT for the farmers’ loan waiver scheme, following the suggestions of a Cabinet Sub-Committee on the mobilisation of resources.”
He explained that mobilisation of resources through ORR TOT was done as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had done in the case of several roads. In case a private company benefited with the lease as alleged by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, why his government was not scrapping the lease, he sought to know.
The BRS leader recollected that the HMDA had filed defamation charges against Mr. Revanth Reddy in the past when he had made baseless allegations that there was lakhs of crore corruption in the ORR lease and the case was going on. In case Mr. Revanth Reddy had believed that ORR lease was a scam, he would have scrapped it immediately after assuming charge as the Chief Minister if there was truth in his allegations.
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Stating that Mr. Revanth Reddy was also holding the portfolios of Municipal Administration and Home, Mr. Rama Rao sought to know how a SIT formed by a Department under him would bring out facts as all the officers would only heed to him. “In case Mr. Reddy was sincere to bring out facts he would scrap the lease and order a probe with a sitting or retired judge,” the BRS leader felt.
Instead of limiting itself to victimising the BRS leaders, the government could as well try to bring out facts. He also sought to know whether the Congress members were trained in throwing water bottles and papers onto the Opposition BRS members during the recent orientation programme.
Published – December 20, 2024 02:03 pm IST
