Only Congress Should Get Credit For Metro: Shabbir Ali

Leader Of Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Thursday held the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and its political ally Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) solely responsible for the delay in the construction and escalation in the cost of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project.

Speaking to reporters, Shabbir Ali said that the Metro Rail was the Congress' baby. Right from conceptualizing and getting the Centre's nod for the project to laying the foundation and operationalizing the construction, the credit for everything went to the Congress, he claimed.

"If at all the TRS and MIM have done anything, it is delaying the project by demanding the concessionaire L&T to change the route in front of the Assembly, Sultan Bazaar and Old City, which led to the inordinate delay," he said.

The Congress leader said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao should now seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi's support for completing the key stretches of the Metro Rail connecting the airport and Old City ahead of schedule.

Training his guns at the MIM, Shabbir Ali said that the party did not want the Old City to develop as it (the MIM) would lose its influence and domination over the area if the Muslim youth became educated.

"The Congress, with its sole aim to develop the Old City, had proposed the linking of Falaknuma with the Metro. However, the ruling TRS changed the route and abandoned the Falaknuma region," he said.