SIT Issues Notice to Harish Rao in Phone-Tapping Case

Addressing a press conference, senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao said the inclusion of a clause for a site visit by potential bidders by SCCL opened up the doors for largescale corruption, and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s Sunday announcement of cancelling the tender process for Naini coal block proved the need for an investigation into the contracts awarded by SCCL over the past two years.

Harish Rao said the scam came to light following a fight among ministers “for commissions, and one such fight saw Bhatti cancelling the tender” for Naini coal block. “The site visit condition, introduced by the Revanth Reddy government in 2024, does not exist anywhere in the country. Now that Bhatti has cancelled this, the BRS demands cancellation of coal mining tenders awarded in the last two years also based on the same criteria,” he said.

Harish Rao alleged that six SCCL contracts given in the last two years were at a plus seven per cent, and the first contract was given to Revanth Reddy’s brother-in-law Sujan Redy’s Shodha Construction. “Such contracts are always given at minus-10 to minus-22 per cent of the quote. But contracts after Revanth came to power were given with plus-seven to plus-10 per cent rates. Even worse, contracts awarded at lower rates during the BRS rule were cancelled and given again at a higher price,” he said.

“We demand a CBI inquiry into these contracts. Union Minister Kishan Reddy from the BJP who is the coal minister, must order a probe. If he does not, it proves that the BJP and the Congress are working together,” he said.

Harish Rao also demanded an answer from Revanth Reddy if the claim that a Special Investigation Team was set up to probe media reports about a minister without his knowledge. “A SIT cannot be set up without the CM’s approval. If this happened, then Revanth has become a failed Chief Minister,” he said.