Bhatti: I will protect TG assets & resources

Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Sunday said that he did not enter politics “to expand business empires or enjoy power and position”. “I have spent the last 40 years fighting for people’s causes, both inside and outside the Legislature,” the Dy CM observed, while speaking to the media at Praja Bhavan here on Sunday.

Bhatti said he had entered politics with a specific purpose: to protect Telangana’s assets and resources from looters and bandits and to ensure that those resources reach the people. The Deputy Chief Minister made these comments, while trashing reports in a section of the press, which alleged that he had had a role in finalising tenders of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited. He said: “The cooked-up report was deliberately published to serve certain vested interests. Tender conditions are finalised by the Singareni Board. Ministers have no role in them. As soon as the allegations surfaced, I suggested that the tenders be cancelled.” Bhatti sought to clarify that he had conveyed this to the Singareni Board members, who informed him that tenders had been called but no one had come forward yet.

“Even then, I instructed that the tenders be cancelled and called afresh,” he clarified.

Bhatti warned that he would not remain silent if attempts are made “to malign officials, Ministers, and the government” through such reports. He asserted that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, along with all ministers, is working in the broader interests of the people of the state, adding: “We would not be intimidated by petty, motivated stories.”