Vivek Venkataswamy pitches for probe into CM KCR's stash

Hyderabad: Former MP and BJP leader Vivek Venkataswamy said the outcome of Dubbaka by-elections had exposed how people were frustrated with the misgovernance of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

Addressing media here on Thursday, he said it was a big lesson to the dictatorial regime of Chandrashekar Rao and the ensuing GHMC elections would be fought on similar lines. The defeat of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the by-poll opened up several avenues and new combinations for political realignment in the State, he added.

Stating that people were no longer ready to accept Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's 'Tughlaq' style of administration, the former MP said the TRS chief was neglecting woes of people and pushing the State into a debt trap. "Telangana State's debt has shot up from Rs 60,000 crore to Rs 4 lakh crore in the last six years. At the same time, his assets have increased manifold," Vivek said.

He said he had requested the Central government agencies to institute a probe into Chandrashekar Rao family's illegal assets that he earned by looting Telangana. Whatever money was available, had been diverted to the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS). The project pegged at Rs 36,000 crore, on which already Rs 11,000 crore has been spent. Yet, on the pretext of redesigning, the project cost had been inflated to Rs 1 lakh crore for commissions, the former MP said. "Similar is the fate of Mission Bhagiratha. The superstitious Chief Minister has demolished existing Secretariat to rebuild a brand new one. That too, at a time when people have been suffering from Covid-19 and needed an isolation facility," he said.

Vivek denounced the KCR government for misusing police machinery in the State. "During the recent Dubaka by-elections, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar held a press conference and dragged my name and my company, Visaka Industries, into a controversy. Intending 'to ruin my image by accusing me and the BJP of buying votes," he added.

The TRS had distributed huge sums of money and liquor in the Dubbaka elections, he said adding, "I must say that the money was supplied from the Chief Minister's farmhouse and Pragati Bhavan, but the police were mute spectators to all these. Since I have been working against the dictatorial rule of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao since joining the BJP, he wants to threaten me and my colleagues by filing false cases against us. But, they won't stop me, and I will not succumb to threats," he said.