KTR challenges Revanth Reddy to prove Rs 1-lakh-crore land claim

BRS working president KT Rama Rao challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to deposit Rs 1 lakh crore into the accounts of Telangana’s poor in exchange for the K Chandrashekhar Rao family transferring all its land assets to the government

Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Friday threw a bumper offer at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy over his allegations that the K Chandrashekhar Rao family owned land worth Rs 1 lakh crore. Rama Rao challenged him to deposit the same amount in the accounts of Telangana’s poor, and in exchange, offered to transfer their family’s assets to the government.

Rama Rao said the family was ready to transfer every inch of land owned in its name if the Chief Minister immediately deposited Rs 1 lakh crore into the accounts of poor people across the State. If he was unable to do so, the Chief Minister should stop the campaign and tender an unconditional public apology, he said.

---

“Even if one per cent of the allegations you have made were true, I am making you this offer,” Rama Rao said, terming the allegations as a malicious campaign against his family. He asserted that Chandrashekhar Rao’s life was an open book, and recalled the latter’s role in the Telangana movement and his commitment to improving the lives of the people of the state.

The BRS working president said the earlier campaign alleging that Chandrashekhar Rao owned a 1,000-acre farmhouse had boomeranged after the Chief Minister himself admitted in the Assembly that only 67 acres formed part of the former Chief Minister’s agricultural farm. He said the government was now repeating the same tactic with a fresh claim of Rs 1 lakh crore worth of family-owned land.

Rama Rao stated that the campaign was intended to divert public attention from the Congress government’s record after 1,000 days in power. The government could not shift the focus of people from its failure to implement 420 promises and the controversy over lands under Section 22-A of the Registration Act, he said.

“There is only venom but no substance in your allegations,” he said, questioning the Chief Minister’s decision to continue with allegations without any basis.

Rama Rao also referred to allegations made during the previous Assembly elections of a Rs 1 lakh crore scam in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. He pointed out that the Congress government failed to establish not a single rupee of corruption in the project so far, despite multiple investigations in last 33 months. He accused the Congress of adopting a similar line of attack against his family.

The BRS leader stated that farmers were facing power cuts, a shortage of urea and difficulties over irrigation. However, he said the government was focused on the principal Opposition instead of addressing these issues. He also reminded that the Congress promised two lakh jobs in its first year, but did not fill even 10 per cent of them after 1,000 days. He said the Congress cannot hide its failures behind wild allegations against the BRS.

Rama Rao accused Revanth Reddy of making false claims in the Assembly and undermining the dignity of the legislature. He alleged that the purported Rs 1 lakh crore land scam linked by the Chief Minister to the previous BRS regime, was indeed happening under the current Congress rule following the inclusion of 1.2 crore acres in the prohibited list under Section 22-A of the Registration Act. He vowed that upon returning to power, the BRS would expose the Congress government’s alleged corruption and irregularities, and ensure recovery of every rupee taken from the people.