KTR Slapped with Defamation Notice on AMRUT Tender Allegations
HYDERABAD: BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao was on Thursday slapped with a legal notice for his allegations that Soodini Srujan Reddy, who he claimed was Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s brother-in-law, received undue benefits and was handed a Rs 8,888-crore contract by the state government.
The notice from Srujan Reddy’s legal counsel charged Rama Rao with making “false, malicious, politically-motivated, and vindictive statements” against Srujan Reddy and Shodha Constructions, the company run by him, “without any basis or substantiation.”
Rama Rao was also accused of making unfounded and defamatory statements in the media about Srujan Reddy and “falsely implied” that Srujan Reddy was related to the Chief Minister and as a result secured a contract worth Rs 1,377 crore for executing works related to Central government’s Amrut scheme.
The BRS working president was given 24 hours to issue a written public apology for making false and defamatory statements against Srujan Reddy and Shodha Constructions “for harming and damaging his hard-earned reputation and goodwill,” and also “remove/delete/take down the defamatory content from the social media accounts and websites maintained and controlled” by Rama Rao, and the BRS and also desist from making further comments against Srujan Reddy.
In the notice, Srujan Reddy’s counsel said if Rama Rao did not issue the public apology and withdraw his comments, “appropriate legal proceedings, both civil and criminal in nature” would be initiated against the BRS leader.
The 56-page notice said that Rama Rao had claimed that a company that had only Rs 2 crore in profits was given contracts worth `1,377.77 crore through favouritism by the Chief Minister. Rama Rao, and the BRS, amplified the allegations against Srujan Reddy, following a statement released by the BRS leader that the company did not meet the financial qualification to bid for the tender, the notice said.
The notice said Shodha Constructions entered into a joint venture with AMR Private Limited, and IHP Limited to bid for a tender announced by the Telangana government, and that the contract was awarded through the tender process after the combined resources of the three companies were considered by the government.
The notice further said that the total value of the work under Amrut 2.0 scheme was around Rs 3656.78 crore and nowhere near Rs 9,000 crore as claimed by Rama Rao, which, the notice said, was a fictitious and bogus number. The tender awarded to the joint venture was around Rs 1,110 crore. The ratio of the JV bid was 51:29:20 with AMR holding the highest share, followed by Shodha, and IHP, which meant Shodha will get works worth only Rs 321.9 crore.
“These vital aspects have been deliberately and purposely concealed” by Rama Rao and BRS “with malicious intent. This shows a deliberate attempt” to misguide the public at large with the “sole object of causing reputational damage” to Srujan Reddy, the notice said.