Hyderabad: TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy asked Minister K.T. Rama Rao to send an all-party delegation to inspect the Medigadda barrage if he still believed that there was no damage to the vital part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.
He denied that he and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had posted pictures of ‘expansion joints’ on the barrage and projected them as cracks, to create a fear among people that it would collapse.
Participating in the 'Meet the Press' programme organised by the Telangana State Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) here on Friday, Revanth Reddy also rejected Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao's claims at public meetings that the Congress would scrap welfare schemes like Rythu Bandhu and free power to agriculture if it came to power.
Revanth Reddy accused the BRS government of only continuing the welfare schemes launched by the previous governments and said that Chandrashekar Rao had copied the Rythu Bandhu scheme from the Congress manifesto of 2014 when it promised Rs 10,000 per acre as input subsidy for farmers every year.
"Had the Congress come to power, we would have implemented Rythu Bandhu in 2014. After the BRS came to power in 2014, KCR copied this scheme in 2018 just before the Assembly polls, named it Rythu Bandhu, and gave Rs 8,000 per acre per year,” the TPCC chief said.
“The Congress is now promising Rs 15,000 per acre per year under Rythu Bharosa and has even promised to extend Rs 12,000 per acre per year to tenant farmers. The BRS Rythu Bandhu has no place for tenant farmers."
Revanth Reddy said it was the previous Congress governments that had introduced free power for farmers, social welfare pensions, Aarogyasri, fee reimbursement, scholarships, and other welfare schemes.
“The BRS government is simply continuing these welfare schemes but failed to implement them effectively. People are not getting Arogyasri, fee reimbursement properly. People are not innocent to believe CM's false propaganda."
Revanth Reddy said that the Congress was committed to implementing the Six Guarantees that it had promised, within 100 days of coming to power.
On the row over the Medigadda barrage, Revanth Reddy said: "KTR claimed that we posted pictures of expansion joints on the barrage and tried to create fear among people that the bridge will collapse. However, the pictures of expansion joints clearly show that the barrage had become uneven as the pillars sank. Officials told us that the pillars continue to sink further and this will definitely lead to cracks on the bridge and will collapse.”
“If KTR still believes that there is no danger to the bridge, he should send an all-party delegation along with media and engineers to examine and ascertain whether the bridge is in dangerous condition or not," he said.
