KCR's Presentation Bid To Hoodwink People: Congress

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday felt that the presentation made by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) in the Assembly on irrigation projects was just another effort to hoodwink the people of the State.

Speaking to the media in Nalgonda town, the TPCC president alleged that KCR had made a presentation in the House in violation of the traditions and rules in the Indian democracy.

He pointed out that no audio-visual presentation was given by anybody in any legislative house or Parliament during the last 60 years.

"We sought a presentation by the Chief Minister either in the Assembly committee hall or in the Secretariat, and also wrote letters to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly thrice in the matter. But there was no positive response from the government," he said.

Pooh-poohing the presentation and its coverage by the media, the TPCC chief said that it was creating a false impression that water was overflowing across the State through the irrigation projects. He charged the TRS government with failure to complete a single irrigation project which were taken up by it.

He also alleged that the TRS government had entered an agreement with Maharashtra and decided to reduce the height of the Pranahitha-Chevella Project from 152 feet to 148 feet at the cost of the interests of people of the State. He said that the Congress was not against the construction of irrigation projects, but that the TRS government was seeing the whole area as an opportunity for rent-seeking, and had taken up the re-designing of the irrigation projects for "bribes".

He termed the Palamuru Ranga Reddy Project as a big scam. He also questioned the need for the re-designing of the Pranahitha-Chevella Project, which obtained half of the required permission from the Centre. He pointed out that the TRS had demanded national project status to the earlier design of the project during the Telangana agitation.

Reddy also felt that it was unfortunate that the State government was misusing the funds which had been brought in the form of loans from various sources. The Congress would try to educate the people about the corrupt practices of the TRS government, he said.

He also accused the TRS government of failure to take up drought relief measures, and steps to solve the drinking water problem, the fodder scarcity problem, and the migrations problem which could be resolved by just effectively implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Program (NREGP).

Nalgonda MP Gutha Sukender Reddy, and Congress MLAs Bhasker Rao and Uttam Padmavathi were also present.