Hyderabad: YSR Telangana Party Chief Y S Sharmila has written to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, appealing him to raise the alleged corruption in Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in the state.
Releasing the letter to the media on Wednesday, Sharmila made it clear that as a National party, Congress should have a regional concern too and particularly about a project that her father and late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy conceived to bring permanent solutions to the drought-ridden Telangana lands.
“As Rahul Gandhi begins his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana tomorrow, we welcome him on this soil, and also appeal him to raise this issue that will have far-reaching impact and awareness as the biggest scam allegedly committed by the Chief Minister to favour his family and one contractor,” she said adding that the local Congress leaders have only been doing cosmetic service when it came to fighting KCR and his corruption in the Kaleshwaram Project.
Recalling her father’s commitment and vision towards Telangana, the YSRTP Chief, through the letter, tried to draw attention of Rahul Gandhi towards the original specifications of the project that was then conceived as Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella Project, and planned with an outlay of Rs 38,500 crore. “Today, the Chief Minister has hiked the cost to over Rs 1.20 lakh crore with no perceived additional benefits.
The original project design, along with Dr YSR’s unflinching commitment towards irrigation in Telangana was hailed by the Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi. We want Rahul Gandhi to know that the current lot of his colleagues in the state have no interest to fight these irregularities,” she said.
“We expect Rahul Gandhi to raise the subject all along his Yatra in Telangana, more seriously, and not just as lip service. This appeal is in the larger interest of the people of Telangana.
I wish to add once again that it is only the YSRTP that has been fervently fighting against the corruption and massive malpractices in the project. We have met the CBI and the CAG in Delhi and filed complaints against the project irregularities, falsification of numbers and favouritism.
We are going all out to expose KCR on all fronts, we have not relented, and we will not relax. While welcoming Rahul Gandhi, we expect that he also understands the seriousness of the scam and as a national party, responds by raising the issue,” Sharmila added.
