Yet another faux pas from Rahul Gandhi; calls expansion joint a crack

Rahul Gandhi apparently thought the expansion joints on the barrage were cracks and posing along with Revanth Reddy even posted a photograph with him pointing at one such “crack”

Hyderabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi once again made himself the butt of jokes in Telangana on Thursday, this time by mistaking expansion joints on the Lakshmi Barrage at Meddigadda as cracks.

Gandhi, who has been trying to show the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project as a project ridden with corruption, had visited the Medigadda Barrage on Thursday after getting permission from the State police, obviously with the intention of getting some fodder to attack the BRS. Accompanied by TPCC president A Revanth Reddy and CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka, Gandhi ‘inspected’ the barrage, and soon after, posted on X (formerly Twitter), saying that cracks had developed in multiple pillars because of “shoddy construction with reports indicating that the pillars are sinking”.

---

The Congress leader apparently thought the expansion joints on the barrage were cracks and posing along with Revanth Reddy even posted a photograph with him pointing at one such “crack”. However, social media was soon to school the Congress leader on what the “crack” originally was. Expansion joints, which appear as a small gap on such concrete structures are what help the survive expansion in hot summers. The same principle is used for flyovers, railway tracks and bridges as well, he was told.

While it is not sure whether Gandhi consulted any experts before jumping to the “crack” conclusion, what he forgot was that a Central team of experts had recently examined the structure, after a pier sunk a bit, but did not flag cracks or any major damage to the structure as alleged by Gandhi.

While alleging “shoddy construction”, he also forgot that the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, of which the Lakshmi Barrage is part of, was recently recognised as an “enduring symbol of engineering progress and partnership” by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the United States of America’s oldest engineering society founded in 1852. This was after an ASCE delegation visited Telangana and toured the entire project.

The ASCE, one of the world’s oldest engineering societies, represents more than 1.5 lakh civil engineers from 177 countries. Whether Rahul Gandhi and Revanth Reddy have more expertise on such engineering aspects than the experts of the ASCE is a moot point.