Ministers Barrage Visit was Attention Diversion: BRS

HYDERABAD: The BRS, whose government oversaw construction of the Medigadda barrage, a portion of which sank in October, dismissed the visit to the site by irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy as a mere diversionary tactic on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, BRS former minister Kadiyam Srihari stated that everything discussed by the ministers at Medigadda on Friday had been addressed by the BRS leadership. Srihari claimed the ministers' pronouncements on the incident could influence the promised judicial inquiry.

Srihari claimed that the ministers' efforts were aimed at diverting attention from the Congress government's inability to fulfil its electoral promises. He welcomed the prospect of White Papers and inquiries, stating that there was nothing to hide, and mentioned that the BRS had also requested a probe.

Accompanied by BRS legislators Muta Gopal and K. Venkatesh, Srihari criticised Uttam Kumar Reddy for claiming that the BRS government had never sought national project status for Kaleshwaram. Srihari asserted that both he and then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the request, and Rao had written multiple letters to the PM without success.

Disagreeing with the Congress government's assertion that the project cost was deliberately escalated, Srihari explained that the increase was due to the larger area coming under irrigation than originally proposed, as well as the construction of reservoirs capable of storing a total of 140 tmc ft of water.