PM\'s call against family rule and corruption echoes in TS

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call to end family rule and corruption in his Independence Day speech on Monday had its echo in Telangana as the Central investigating agencies are gearing up to what the BJP claims is the law taking its course to cleanse the polity.

The TRS has been anticipating what it claims would be acts of political vendetta by the Modi dispensation to silence rival parties. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on numerous occasions have dared the Prime Minister to “touch” them and see the repercussions.

A top infra firm and a senior minister in the Chandrashekar Rao Cabinet are said to top the long list of ‘targets’. According to sources, the state leadership of the BJP had prepared a dossier on the projects and their promoters who received undue favours from the TRS dispensation, and handed it over to the central leadership. The party, sources added, is also weighing the option of seeking judicial intervention for launch of probe by the Central agencies.

The infra firm had gained notoriety for entering into development agreements with people who make land ownership claims against the state government. Significantly, the disputes are subsequently settled in favour of the private parties, paving way for the infra firm to build high-rise commercial space.

In prime areas, the government voluntarily dropped legal battle over lands worth thousands of crores of rupees to favour the infra firm. In some cases, the firm used its muscle power to settled disputes between two private parties.

A senior minister in the Cabinet who is known for successfully handling byelections in the state post bifurcation is also on the radar. Land transactions that the minister allegedly entered into in Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda districts will be probed by the agencies, sources said.