Karimnagar, June 22 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) over alleged corruption in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, claiming it has turned into a personal ATM for former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) and his family.
Addressing the media in Karimnagar, Bandi Sanjay alleged that the Congress government in Telangana, led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, has become a protective shield for the KCR family.
He claimed that, despite sufficient evidence of corruption, no action was being taken against the former Chief Minister due to political collusion between the Congress and the BRS.
“Congress and BRS are like two sides of the same rupee coin. That is why KCR is not being arrested even after glaring evidence of misappropriation in the Kaleshwaram project,” he said.
Sanjay reiterated the BJP’s demand for a CBI investigation into the project, stating that the state government’s internal probe cannot be trusted.
He accused KCR of inflating the project cost from Rs 38,000 crore to Rs 1.2 lakh crore, alleging that massive corruption had taken place at every level.
“If a few officials working on the project earned hundreds of crores, imagine the scale of corruption,” he remarked.
Dismissing any ambiguity in the BJP’s stance, Sanjay said, “Prime Minister Modi’s stand is the BJP’s stand. BJP is not a party that changes policies like a chameleon. We will act firmly once we come to power.”
He also referred to phone-tapping allegations, stating that he was a victim of surveillance when he served as the BJP state president. “The Revanth Reddy-led government is acting like a puppet and is continuing to shield KCR's wrongdoings, including the illegal phone tapping.”
Mocking KCR’s self-proclaimed titles as an ‘engineer’ and ‘doctor,’ Sanjay said, “KCR took all decisions single-handedly, including on Kaleshwaram, and now he’s attempting to shift
responsibility.”
Sanjay asserted that people are seeing through the Congress-BRS nexus and have made up their minds to give BJP a chance. “People are saying—everyone got a chance, now it's BJP’s turn,” he stated.
He also took aim at the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA), saying it is a constitutional body and cannot be swayed by political interests. “If the BRS claims the project was approved by the cabinet and sub-committees, then let them show that evidence.”
The Union Minister stressed that even without Kaleshwaram, Telangana witnessed record agricultural yields this season, raising questions about the project’s necessity and purpose.
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