BJP Slams Revanth's Rs 100 Crore Football Show As Public Money Mismanagement
Maheshwar Reddy ridiculed ministers' claims linking the match to the Telangana Rising Global Summit, noting it was planned a month earlier in Mumbai during Revanth Reddy's visit for a wedding.
HYDERABAD: BJP Legislature Party leader A. Maheshwar Reddy on Thursday accused Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of squandering over Rs 100 crore of public funds on the football exhibition match against football icon Lionel Messi's team at the Uppal cricket stadium. "This is outright financial crime —playing football with taxpayers' money for personal fun," Maheshwar Reddy alleged and demanded a full breakdown of expenditure on the event from the tourism and sports, and SCCL.
The BJP would hold a protest against the event at the SCCL headquarters at Red Hills here on Friday, he said.
In a statement, Maheshwar Reddy alleged that Messi reported appearance fee was `70 crore, and the cost of security provided by the government, accommodation, and flight costs would pushing the total beyond Rs 100 crore. SCCL, under Deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, was sponsoring Revanth Reddy's team, diverting funds from miners' welfare and athletes, the BJP leader alleged.
"Why sponsor the CM's hobby when Singareni workers suffer? This is double standards — cut wasteful spending elsewhere, but indulge here?" he asked. Conversion of the Uppal stadium to a football pitch risked damaging one of India's top cricket grounds, incurring another `10 crore for reversible modifications, he alleged.
Maheshwar Reddy ridiculed ministers' claims linking the match to the Telangana Rising Global Summit, noting it was planned a month earlier in Mumbai during Revanth Reddy's visit for a wedding.
