Revanth: Why Is BRS Not Demanding Dharmendra Pradhan's Resignation?

Hyderabad:Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy asked why the BRS was not demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan over his failures including the NEET paper leak and the CBSE evaluation imbroglio, and claimed that it was because the party was in cahoots with the BJP.

He was speaking after BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao announced the holding of a protest at Indira Park on Friday against the police action against students and youth in Delhi.

In an informal interaction with media at the Legislative Assembly premises on Thursday, Revanth Reddy reiterated his allegation that Globarena was a benami company of Rama Rao. The BRS leader had earlier in the day served a legal notice on the matter.

Globarena was involved in irregularities in the Telangana Intermediate Examinations in 2019, following which 27 students had died by suicide due to the improper evaluation of answer sheets, Revanth Reddy said.

The Chief Minister alleged that Rama Rao had had influenced BJP leaders in Delhi to help the company secure the CBSE examination contract this year. He demanded Rama Rao’s apology for the alleged irregularities. He also challenged Rama Rao to demand a probe into the Globerena issue and also over ownership of land at the Janwada farmhouse.

Taking a dig at Rama Rao for serving him a defamation notice over his remarks on Globarena, Revanth Reddy said a defamation case was generally filed by a person who had reputation and integrity and sarcastically questioned whether Rama Rao was in a position to issue such notices. He demanded that Rama Rao lodge a complaint with the Central Crime Station (CCS) against Globarena if he believed the allegations were false.

He alleged that there was a BRS-BJP understanding, and asked why the BRS had not demanded Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. "What is this BRS-BJP collusion," Revanth Reddy asked.

Revanth Reddy said the Congress government had reopened Dharna Chowk that was closed by BRS government and pointed out that Rama Rao was now planning to stage a protest at the same venue. Responding to criticism over investigations ordered by the Congress government, Revanth Reddy said whenever the administration initiated an inquiry, the Opposition accused it of political vendetta.

He said the report submitted by the P.C. Ghose judicial commission on the Kaleshwaram project had already been forwarded to the CBI for investigation and added that the Central agency was free to conduct any inquiry it deemed appropriate.

On government recruitments, Revanth Reddy challenged Rama Rao to bring up the issue of filling of vacancies in the Assembly and said he was ready to provide a list of 70,000 appointments along with the names of the selected candidates. He claimed that the Congress government had filled 11,000 teacher posts within 55 days.

Revanth Reddy alleged that the previous BRS government’s practice was to issue notifications, allow paper leaks and then profit from the process. Revanth Reddy also said the state government was taking a strict stand against food adulteration.

Revanth Reddy dismissed Rama Rao's prediction that the BRS would return to power in Telangana with 80 Assembly seats in the next elections. He said the predictions made by both leaders about their parties' performance in the 2023 Assembly elections should be compared.

Referring to the recent Jubilee Hills bypoll, Revanth Reddy said Rama Rao had predicted that the BRS would win by a margin of 50,000 votes, while he had forecast a 30,000-vote victory for the Congress. "My prediction came true," Revanth Reddy said.