Telangana Government Orders CBI Probe Into Kaleshwaram Project

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy announced on Sunday that the Telangana Assembly has decided to hand over the Justice PC Ghose Commission report to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further probe. The decision follows a marathon debate on the 650-page report, which was tabled in the house yesterday.

The Telangana Assembly descended into chaos as the state government and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi clashed over the Justice PC Ghose Commission report on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. The debate culminated in a walkout by BRS MLAs, who later staged a public protest.

The report, which has indicted former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), former ministers, and a number of IAS officers and engineers, describes the actions surrounding the Kaleshwaram project as "false," "illegal," "wrongful," "hasty," "dishonest," "negligent," and a "breach of trust".

The commission has recommended legal action against KCR for alleged irregularities, called T Harish Rao's evidence "false" and labelled IAS officer Smitha Sabharwal "negligent and irresponsible".

The report also implicates contractors and other officials for failing to fix defects and raising huge loans on the former chief minister's orders.

The BRS leaders, however, have strongly condemned the report and the government's actions, calling them politically motivated. BRS working president Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao said, "Well, it's definitely not PC Ghose Commission. It is PCC report fabricated in the Congress party office." He further asserted that the report is "absolutely politically motivated and fabricated" and a "political drama" orchestrated ahead of the panchayat polls.

BRS leaders protested in the Assembly, alleging that they were not given sufficient time to respond to the report. According to BRS MLA T Harish Rao, they were only given 30 minutes to speak on the 650-page report, and his microphone was cut when he attempted to raise the issue of fertilizers. "I can answer every page, every word, give me at least 2 hours," he said.

Harish Rao and KTR criticised the government for trying to suppress their voice and claimed they had "no choice but to walk out" after protesting for an hour and a half without being given a microphone to speak.

Following the walkout, BRS MLAs marched to Gun Park, where they tore up copies of the report at the Martyrs' Memorial and threw them into a trash bin, calling it "trash" and "scrap" paper.

During the protest, Harish Rao posed a series of questions to the government, including whether KCR, who fought for 14 years for Telangana, deserved punishment for providing 24-hour electricity, filling dried-up lakes through the Kaleshwaram project, providing fertilisers, and introducing schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima.

KTR reaffirmed the party's faith in the judiciary. "We have immense faith in judiciary, and we will not only fight this legally, we'll also fight them politically." The BRS has already filed an interim application in the Telangana High Court challenging the validity of the commission's report.