Thummala Slams Etala For "Lying" Before Ghosh Commission

Telangana Agriculture Minister Thummala Nageswara Rao today strongly criticised former minister and BJP MP Etala Rajender claiming that the latter made false statements before the Justice P C Ghosh Commission regarding the construction of the Kaleshwaram project.

He alleged that Rajender's submissions to the Commission were riddled with inaccuracies, and accused the former minister of fabricating several claims.

Speaking to the media at the Secretariat, Rao said that Rajender's remarks to the press were also highly misleading. He asked whether the BJP MP had spoken out of ignorance or under some compulsion.

He also condemned Rajender for dragging his own (Thummala's) name into the Kaleshwaram controversy, and said that the BJP MP would not be able to mislead the public with falsehoods for much longer.

"Etala Rajender mentioned my role as a member of the cabinet sub-committee during the BRS government's tenure. However, it must be clarified that the sub-committee was not constituted to oversee the Kaleshwaram project. It was formed 15 days after the approval of the Medigadda Barrage, solely to review ongoing projects in Telangana," Thummala said.

He explained that the sub-committee's role was to evaluate whether contractors would complete the pending works at the agreed-upon rates, and to determine the appropriate course of action if the work was either completed or left unfinished.

The minister further asserted that the sub-committee neither authorised nor submitted any report on the Kaleshwaram project. He also added that the project never received Cabinet approval and was not even placed before the Cabinet during the tenure of the previous BRS administration led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and threw a challenge to former minister and BRS MLA Harish Rao urging him to produce evidence showing that the Kaleshwaram project was discussed and approved in any Cabinet meeting during the BRS regime.

The minister said he had never engaged in any wrongdoing in his 43 years in public life. "I had no involvement in the development of the Kaleshwaram project. Etala Rajender is unjustly implicating me in this controversy. I plan to independently approach the Justice P C Ghosh Commission to present all the relevant facts," he said.