KT Rama Rao calls NDSA report on barrages politically motivated, calls it ‘NDA report’

Says report on Medigadda, Annaram, Sundilla timed deliberately to damage BRS' image ahead of silver jubilee celebrations

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Friday rejected the National Dam Safety Authority’s (NDSA) report on Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages as politically motivated, timed deliberately to damage his party’s image ahead of its silver jubilee celebrations.

He questioned its credibility, pointing out that no on-site inspection or testing was conducted at Medigadda before the report was finalised.

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“This is not a NDSA report, but an NDA report, jointly authored by the BJP and Congress,” he said, pointing out that although the report was submitted in December, it was released just days before the BRS public meeting at Warangal, raising doubts about its intent.

In an informal interaction with the media ahead of the silver jubilee meeting, Rama Rao cited the NDSA’s selective action. He questioned the Authority’s silence during the Morbi bridge collapse in Gujarat, which killed 141 people, and its inaction in Bihar, where bridge collapses were frequent.

“Even after 60 days of the SLBC tunnel collapse, they did not visit the site. Nor did they inspect the Sunkishala project after retaining wall collapse. Yet here, a politically prepared report emerges overnight. The agenda is clear — to malign BRS,” he said, adding that after the April 27 meeting, he would expose more scams under the Congress regime where more BJP MPs were involved and working hand-in-glove with Revanth Reddy.

He maintained that the Congress remained BRS’s primary opponent in Telangana, dismissing the BJP’s relevance. “The BJP’s eight MPs from Telangana lost in the Assembly elections and only won the Lok Sabha polls due to the fading Modi factor,” he said, rejecting the BJP’s “double-engine sarkaar” slogan, stating Telangana’s ‘single-engine’ BRS government delivered better governance.

On the BRS opting out of recent MLC elections, Rama Rao termed it a strategic decision, noting limited voter registration among party leaders in the Graduates and Teachers constituencies and lacking numbers to contest the Hyderabad Local Authorities constituency. Regarding the GHMC elections, he said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy lacked clarity and was confused whether to split or retain the civic body.

The BRS working president criticised Revanth Reddy for acting like an opposition leader even while in power. “Even Congress MLAs don’t treat him as the Chief Minister. He blames BRS to cover up his own failures. While Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka declared Telangana a revenue-surplus State, the Chief Minister claims there is no money to implement electoral promises,” he remarked.

On defected MLAs attempting to return, he said he was personally against it and instead preferred to encourage the committed cadre who stood by the party. The former Minister also rubbished criticism over the party’s name change from TRS to BRS, asking if the name change mattered, how did the party still secure 37 per cent vote share in Assembly polls. He reminded that the Congress and BJP too changed their respective names over the years. He reaffirmed BRS’s ambition for a national role, despite earlier setbacks.

“We didn’t give up on Telangana. We won’t give up on expanding nationally either. Our April 27 meeting will send a strong message about BRS’s role in national politics,” he declared.

On the Pahalgam terror attack, Rama Rao urged all parties to refrain from politicising the incident and to support the Centre on national security. “We never politicised religion,” he added.

Defending party chief K Chandrashekhar Rao’s absence from the Assembly, he cited former Chief Ministers NT Rama Rao, M Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha. “Why should he attend an Assembly where the Chief Minister hurls abuses? If he does appear, Revanth Reddy might be the one to flee,” he felt.