Kaleshwaram: Slap In Govt Face, Says Harish

The opposition party declared that once and for all, the lies of the Congress government, which desperately sought to implicate the BRS and its top leaders for the problems at the Medigadda barrage, now stand exposed.

Former irrigation minister Harish Rao, one of the three politicians named in the report as culpable for the problems at Medigadda barrage, called the High Court verdict a “is a slap in the face of the Congress government,” while BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said the High Court orders were “a decisive victory for the people of Telangana and its farmers. The truth has ultimately prevailed over false propaganda.”

Speaking to reporters, Harish Rao said, “The Congress government wasted the last two years slinging mud at the BRS over Kaleshwaram only for political benefits.”

The High Court has now made it clear that the Justice Ghose commission report does not stand scrutiny as the Commission violated principles of natural justice and primary rights of the defendants, and the court made it clear that “no action can be taken based on the Commission’s conclusions,” he said.

“Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy should give up petty politics and repair the two pillars damaged at Medigadda. The barrage is just one of the 100 components of the Kaleshwaram project, but the Congress kept lying, saying that `1 lakh crore was wasted,” Harish Rao said.

“Even the NDSA report was technical, focusing on engineering aspects. The government has no role to play in engineering decisions. If the Congress continues with the same kind of politics, then the courts will once again teach it a lesson,” Harish Rao added.

“If the government spends `100 or `200 crore for repairs to Medigadda, another 3 lakh acres can be irrigated. But the Congress government sat on the repairs at Medigadda even as the rest of the Kaleshwaram system, the pumphouses, and reservoirs are ready to be used,” Harish Rao added.

Rama Rao, meanwhile, said the verdict has proved that it was not the project that collapsed as claimed by the Congress, but it is the “false narratives and conspiracies of Congress that have collapsed.” The verdict has effectively ended the misinformation campaign by Congress leaders, including Revanth Reddy, he added

“The actual damages to Medigadda were of a limited nature, requiring around Rs 400 crore for repairs, which the contractor, L&T, had said it would take up at its cost. But L&T was obstructed from doing so, and we still suspect that it was a deliberate act to destroy the barrage just one month before the elections for the Congress’ political gain. All of these will come to light just as the truth won today in the court,” he said.