Tummala Refutes Etala's Claims on Kaleshwaram, Says Project Bypassed Cabinet
Nageswara Rao stated that the Kaleshwaram project never came up for discussion in any Cabinet meeting and was executed purely on the basis of administrative decisions taken by Chandrashekar Rao. “Kaleshwaram was never placed before the Cabinet. It was pushed forward using only executive orders.”
Hyderabad: Agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao has strongly refuted claims made by BJP MP Etala Rajendar to the Justice P.C. Ghose commission of inquiry regarding the location and designing of the Kaleshwaram project barrages. He said Rajendar, finance minister with the previous BRS government at that time, had provided "false and misleading" information to the commission when he appeared before it on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference held at the Secretariat on Saturday, Nageswara Rao clarified that although both he and Rajendar were members of the Cabinet sub-committee formed in 2016 during the BRS regime, it was not constituted for the Kaleshwaram project.
"The sub-committee was meant to address other pending irrigation projects like Pranahita, Devadula, Kanthanapally and Tupakulagudem and not Kaleshwaram," Nageswara Rao stated.
According to the minister, all decisions regarding the redesign and implementation of the Kaleshwaram project were taken solely by then chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and not through any collective Cabinet or sub-committee process. "No report on Kaleshwaram was ever submitted by the Cabinet sub-committee. Etala’s claim that the Cabinet approved the project is entirely untrue," he added.
Nageswara Rao stated that the Kaleshwaram project never came up for discussion in any Cabinet meeting and was executed purely on the basis of administrative decisions taken by Chandrashekar Rao. “Kaleshwaram was never placed before the Cabinet. It was pushed forward using only executive orders,” he said.
Expressing his dismay at Rajendar’s statements, Nageswara Rao said he respected Rajendar personally but was saddened by the misinformation being spread by him. "I am prepared to submit all necessary documents and evidence to the Ghose commission on my own initiative, even though I have not been summoned," the minister announced.
He questioned why Rajendar had falsely suggested that he (Nageswara Rao) had endorsed a report concerning the Kaleshwaram project. “Etala must explain why he has resorted to making such false claims before the commission. I challenge him to provide proof that the Kaleshwaram project was approved by the Cabinet,” Nageswara Rao said.
