Harish Rao challenges Revanth to judicial probe into 22-A land row

BRS leader T Harish Rao challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to order a judicial inquiry into the Bhu Bharati and 22-A land controversies, demanded a white paper on land additions and removals, and alleged the Congress government had failed to provide relief

Hyderabad: BRS Legislature Party deputy leader T Harish Rao on Wednesday challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to order an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court or High Court judge into the Bhu Bharati and 22-A land controversies, including alleged irregularities over the past three years. He said the BRS was ready to face scrutiny of its government and demanded that the same yardstick be applied to the Congress government.

In a point-by-point rebuttal to the Chief Minister’s allegations, Harish Rao said Revanth Reddy had effectively admitted the BRS’s allegations by acknowledging that entire survey numbers had been uploaded to the prohibited list. He questioned why no action had been taken against officials responsible for the alleged errors and demanded a white paper detailing the extent of land added to and removed from the 22-A list after December 7, 2023. Harish Rao has previously made a similar demand for district-wise details of additions and removals from the prohibited list.

---

He pointed to an alleged contradiction between Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy’s claim that no acre was added to the prohibited list after the Congress came to power and the Chief Minister’s statement that officials had uploaded a 1999 prohibited lands list covering around 3.71 lakh acres in haste, affecting nearly 30 lakh acres.

The BRS leader said Revanth Reddy had offered to constitute committees and issue new guidelines, but argued that these measures would not by themselves resolve the problem. “Revanth Reddy made a promise, but did not give any immediate relief to the 22-A victims,” he said. He questioned why affected people were being forced to approach officials for relief despite being legal owners.

Harish Rao rejected the Chief Minister’s argument that the previous BRS government was responsible for the 22-A issue. He challenged the Chief Minister and Ministers to visit any area in and around Hyderabad and interact with people who, he claimed, were facing problems with land registrations that they had not faced during the BRS regime.

He also questioned the overnight removal of the Chief Minister’s residence from the prohibited list and demanded similar relief for ordinary property owners. “The law should be the same for the common man and the Chief Minister,” he said.

On Bhu Bharati, the former Minister referred to what he described as several irregularities raised by the BRS, including more than 9,200 registrations allegedly carried out without the knowledge of owners across the State and a reported land transfer involving a woman undergoing cancer treatment in Gajwel. He also sought an explanation regarding the alleged Jangaon stamp duty scam and Nadergul land scam.

Rejecting allegations concerning his own properties, Harish Rao said details of his agricultural land had been disclosed in his election affidavit and income-tax returns. “All the properties mentioned by Revanth Reddy to make wild allegations against KCR and his family as well as other BRS leaders are already in the public domain as they were disclosed in their election affidavits,” he added.

The BRS leader also referred to more than 308 acres of assets allegedly owned by Revanth Reddy and his family and challenged the Chief Minister to announce a judicial inquiry into them. “We received the information from people from Kodangal and other areas within an hour after Revanth Reddy’s speech, without us making any efforts. There are scores of victims whose properties were encroached upon by his family,” he alleged.

Harish Rao alleged that the Congress government was resorting to diversion whenever the BRS questioned it on public issues and the Six Guarantees. He said the suspension of BRS MLAs was aimed at avoiding a debate on the government’s alleged failures and asserted that the Opposition had not walked out of the Assembly voluntarily. He said BRS legislators were ready to attend the session and challenged the government to lift their suspension.

He also ridiculed the Chief Minister’s argument that BRS legislators were suspended for wearing black T-shirts with slogans in violation of Assembly rules, while Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, were allowed inside Parliament under its rules. “Revanth Reddy is a specialist in peddling lies and half-truths. There are no separate rules for Parliament and the Assembly,” he said.