Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member A. Maheshwar Reddy has asked Telangana Government to address a letter to the Central Government seeking an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project asserting that the BJP will convince the Centre to order a probe by the premier agency within 48 hours.
He wondered as to how the Congress which criticised the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Government about the alleged irregularities was going back on seeking a CBI probe into the issue. “Let the Congress clarify its stand vis-a-vis the BRS. Why is the Government going back?” he said.
Minister D. Sridhar Babu defended the Government’s stand claiming that the Congress assured to order a judicial probe into Kaleshwaram project in its manifesto and efforts have already been initiated in that direction. Congress MLAs contended that the Centre could interfere in the issue as 70% of the funds required for Kaleshwaram project were taken from the Central agencies.
The BJP member however remained firm on his stand claiming that a letter from the State was mandatory to order CBI probe into the irregularities. On the claims of the Congress members that judicial inquiry would be ordered into the issue, he recalled that the High Court had already expressed its inability to spare a sitting judge to probe the alleged irregularities.
“The Government should write a letter to the Centre or admit its mala fide intentions relating to the BRS,” he said. Mr. Maheshwar Reddy defended the BJP’s decision not to visit Kaleshwaram project along with other MLAs claiming: “What technical knowledge will the MLAs have about the project?”
The Congress leadership was however trying to utilise the development for launching propaganda on the BJP-BRS alliance for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. He asserted that there was no question of the BJP entering into an alliance with the BRS and it was for the Congress to clarify its stand as the two parties had worked together in the past.
