Harish Rao slams CM Revanth Reddy for misleading State Assembly

Harish Rao ridiculed the Chief Minister for holding the BRS responsible for the construction of the Pothireddypadu project during the YS Rajasekhar Reddy government in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

Hyderabad: In a scathing attack on Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, former Minister and senior BRS legislator T Harish Rao charged the former with repeatedly misleading the State Assembly with false statements. Amid heated debates in the Assembly, he said the Chief Minister was raising issues with misleading information to divert the discussion, whenever the ruling party was on the defensive, thereby leading the House astray.

“We have already filed an adjournment motion. We will also move a privilege motion against the Chief Minister for misleading the House,” he said.

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In an informal interaction at the Assembly premises on Monday, Harish Rao ridiculed the Chief Minister for holding the BRS responsible for the construction of the Pothireddypadu project during the YS Rajasekhar Reddy government in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. He reminded that the government order for the project was issued on December 19, 2005, six months after BRS (then TRS) leaders resigned from the YS Rajasekhar Reddy Cabinet on July 5, 2005.

The former Minister also refuted Revanth Reddy’s statement about the installation of electricity meters for agricultural connections. He pointed out that the Chief Minister falsely linked the UDAY scheme document with that of the Centre’s mandate to install electricity meters to agricultural connections and also deliberately omitted the phrase “other than agriculture motors” from the UDAY scheme’s smart meter installation clause.

Further, Harish Rao rubbished the Chief Minister’s claim that retired engineers had deemed the Medigadda project unfeasible. He explained that the retired engineers team had only stated that a direct connection from Medigadda to Mid Manair was not possible, necessitating the construction of Annaram and Sundilla barrages.

He criticised Revanth Reddy’s role in the Telangana statehood movement, accusing him of inaction and opportunism. “Revanth remained silent for posts while we resigned when the proposal for Telangana State formation was withdrawn. His claims of being a champion of Telangana are laughable. People like Revanth Reddy were responsible for the sacrifices of scores of youth during the statehood movement,” he remarked.

Drawing a stark contrast, Harish Rao said while former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao convinced 36 parties for achievement Telangana State, Revanth Reddy only spoke in favour after the State formation became inevitable. He said Chandrashekhar Rao’s efforts for Telangana State formation were unparalleled.

The BRS legislator lambasted the Chief Minister for his double standards, pointing out inconsistencies in his stance on the Land Regularisation Scheme (LRS) and farm loan waiver. He reminded that while in the opposition, the current Ministers Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and N Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that the LRS should be done for free. He questioned the allocation of only Rs 25,000 crore in the budget for a Rs 31,000 crore crop loan waiver.

He dismissed the Congress leaders’ claims that BRS is not a force anymore in the State. He reminded that the Congress did not even get the opposition party status in the Assembly previously, but came to power.