KTR slams Congress leaders, dismisses allegations of irregularities

Municipal Administration Minister K. Tarakarama Rao has warned Congress leaders of stern action if they continue to level baseless allegations against the TRS Government.

Addressing a press conference at TRS Legislature Party office on Tuesday, KTR said that the allegations of irregularities and favouritism levelled by former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh were totally baseless. He asked Jairam Ramesh to withdraw the allegations or face action. He also alleged that AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh and TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy were indulging in cheap politics for their political survival. He accused the Congress leaders of misleading the people with wrong information.

KTR claimed that the TRS Government did not favour Venkaiah Naidu's son's company or his daughter's NGO as alleged by Jairam Ramesh. He said that the TRS Government purchased the vehicles as per the guidelines framed by former UPA Government. Similarly, he said tax exemptions to Venkaiah Naidu's daughter’s NGO were not unprecedented. He said that the former Congress Government too gave similar exemptions to various NGOs. Therefore, what TRS Government did was nothing new.

The minister also dismissed the allegations levelled by Uttam Kumar Reddy on existence of sand mafia. He said that the income through sand mining has increased from Rs. 10 crore during Congress regime to over Rs. 374 crore in just one year after TRS came to power. He said the State Government is expecting a revenue of Rs. 600 through sand mining in current financial year. He said the statistics of revenue clearly show that sand mafia was active during Congress rule and the State Exchequer lost over Rs. 4,000 crore. He said TRS Government has curbed illegal sand mining and in Sircilla alone, nearly 200 cases were registered against sand mafia.

KTR said that the Congress leaders lost their relevance among people and they have been criticising the TRS Government to gain some attention.