On Tuesday, BRS chief KTR accused the Telangana Congress-led government of grave impropriety in the award of contracts under the AMRUT 2.0 water supply scheme that is worth ₹8,888 crore.
KTR maintained that these contracts were secured through rife favours and ranked as one of the best examples of a crony capitalist system, corruption, and subversion of authority. Later, after a BRS delegation met the Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar, he demanded that the central government reject what he termed as “illegal AMRUT 2.0 contracts” in Telangana.
KTR also alleged that the Telangana government protects corruption for those in power; he also recalled previous statements made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s warnings about crony capitalism. He then pointed out how influential people in the government gained an undue advantage through influence. Using examples, KTR said that out of 500 tenders awarded up to February this year, the biggest tender of ₹ 1,137 crore was given out to a joint venture of Indian Hume Pipe Company (IHP), Sodha Constructions, and AMR.
He alleged that IHP, which is a publicly-traded company, would complete only 20% of the work, and 80% of the work would be done by Sodha Constructions, which he said was owned by Sujan Reddy, who is the brother-in-law of Chief Minister K. Revanth Reddy.
KTR criticized Sodha Constructions and expressed doubts about its competency, citing the fact that Sodha Constructions has been reporting profits of ₹3.5 crore in the recent past and strong doubts over the company’s ability to execute large-scale projects, which he argued must have come up through a tainted tendering process.
Besides, KTR accused Revanth Reddy of using his ministerial position and authority as the municipal administration minister to fence these contracts, which constitutes an act of corruption violating the Constitution of India Article 191(1), The Representation of the People Act, as well as as the Prevention of Corruption Act. This also had a barb at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking why, despite such accusations being hurled at Revanth Reddy, nothing had been done.
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