BRS gears up for legal, political showdown with Congress over Ghose Commission report

The BRS is preparing a two-pronged counterattack against the Congress government over alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. While the Congress is pushing a political narrative based on a truncated report by the Justice PC Ghose Commission, the BRS is challenging the findings’ legality.

Hyderabad: With the Congress government intensifying its offensive against the BRS over alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP), the opposition party is preparing to launch a twin-pronged legal and political counterattack to rebut the official narrative. While the ruling Congress is busy building a political narrative, the BRS wants to counter it with a stronger attack and question its legality and credibility.

The move comes after the government released only a truncated version of the Justice PC Ghose Commission’s findings to the public. The complete report is reserved for tabling in the upcoming monsoon session of the Assembly.

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According to sources, BRS president and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has been holding a series of closed-door meetings with senior leaders at his Erravelli residence over the past fortnight to chalk out a strategy. The party’s aim is to nip the issue in the bud by challenging the report’s validity before it becomes a centrepiece of the Congress narrative.

Former Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, who was also named in the Commission’s findings, visited Delhi last week to consult with senior legal experts. Acting on their advice, Harish Rao has formally sought official copies of the full Ghose Commission report on behalf of himself and Chandrashekhar Rao. If the government fails to provide the documents, the BRS plans to approach the courts to secure them.

Party insiders revealed that a team of legal experts in Hyderabad and Delhi will scrutinise the full report to determine grounds for having it declared null and void.

“We do not want to drag such worthless issues and instead, want to highlight the people’s issues. We will expose the Congress government’s political motives behind this report,” a senior party general secretary said.

The BRS’s principal argument hinges on alleged violations of Section 8(C) of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952 — a provision that mandates giving those under investigation an opportunity to defend themselves, present evidence and cross-examine accusers. The party claimed that this was not followed, rendering the Commission’s conclusions procedurally flawed.

Parallel to the legal preparations, the BRS has already intensified its public outreach, accusing the Congress of using selective leaks and distorted narratives to malign the Kaleshwaram project and portray it as a failed project. Party leaders alleged that the ruling dispensation was deliberately turning the massive irrigation initiative into a non-performing asset for political gain.