Hyderabad: The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of receiving kickbacks in the Rs 45,000-crore Water Grid project. He said money was being made in the finalisation of tenders for the construction of intake wells. Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy was speaking after Mr Chandrasekhar Rao’s attack on him at Monday’s Nalgonda public meeting. The Chief Minister had said: “Without even calling tenders for the Water Grid, TPCC president has started campaigning about corruption in the scheme.”
The TPCC chief said he would stand by his allegations and demanded a high-level inquiry to unearth the corruption. The Chief Minister’s claim that no tenders had been called was wrong, his son and minister K.T. Rama Rao had earlier announced that tenders had been for intake well works, Mr Reddy pointed out.
He played two videotapes containing contradictory statements on the matter by Mr Chandrasekhar Rao and Mr Rama Rao. He said the government had first pegged the cost of Water Grid at Rs 25,000 crore, but had jacked it up to '45,000 crore without any explanation. He pointed out that the detailed project report on the scheme had not been released.
The state Congres chief said he had definite information on the finalisation of works on intake wells worth Rs 1,787 crore involving massive corruption. He said he believed that the Chief Minister had received kickbacks for finalising the deals and was using this money to purchase Opposition MLAs.
