Hyderabad: BRS senior leader T Harish Rao on Tuesday leveled serious allegations against Ministers N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Bhatti Vikramarka that they have amassed Rs 7,000 crore in the name of irrigation project and were sanctioning bills by taking 20 per cent commission.

Harish Rao had an informal interaction (chit-chat) with the media here at the Telangana Bhavan on Tuesday. Rao said that irrigation project funds were being mismanaged, with allegations that Rs 7,000 crore was distributed among these top ministers, and bills were only being cleared for contractors who agree to a 20 per cent commission.

Harish Rao said that the Congress government was pushed into a defensive corner following BRS President K Chandrashekar Rao’s recent press conference, forcing the Chief Minister and his cabinet into a state of panic.

In 25 years of political life, it is unprecedented for a Chief Minister to hold a defensive media chit-chat at 9.30 pm to offer explanations; the fact that half a dozen ministers are now competing to hold press meets is a testament to the power of KCR’s questions.

The government must answer whether spending resources on beauty pageants, football shows and global summits will provide food for the poor or address the actual needs of the people.

Harish Rao claimed that the Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was clearly gripped by ‘Vastu’ fears, leading him to avoid the Secretariat entirely despite making physical modifications to the CMO’s gates and doors.

Following the victory of over 4,000 BRS-supported candidates in sarpanch elections, the Chief Minister was terrified of democratic contests, which is why the government was resorting to nominations for PACS and DCCBs instead of conducting elections.

Harish Rao alleged that the current administration was functioning less like a government and more like a ‘consultancy company’, operating solely on the advice of Mumbai-based brokers.

There allegations of financial mismanagement, including a Rs 180 crore commission, previously paid to a broker firm and a plan to split the GHMC into three entities just to secure a fresh debt of Rs 30,000 crore at high interest rates.