HYDERABAD: BJP leader Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy on Saturday demanded that TRS working president and minster K.T. Rama Rao prove the ‘quid pro quo’ allegation, that he had resigned from the Congress following the allotment of a coal mining contract by the Centre, or face a defamation suit.
The BJP, elsewhere, challenged Rama Rao to prove his allegations that Rajgopal Reddy had received the contract from the Centre through illegal means.
Rajgopal Reddy, taking to Twitter, said “It’s time to call spade a spade. I openly challenge Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao. Mr. @KTRTRS I am giving you 24 hours time. Either you prove the allegation levelled against me about the quid pro quo nexus or be ready to face defamation.”
The demand followed an earlier Tweet by Rama Rao that went: “Quid pro quo – open confession of the BJP MLA candidate from Munugodu (sic) His company gets a massive Rs 18,000 cr contract from & in return he joined BJP. Likely his brother Congress MP might follow his footsteps (sic).”
Rama Rao’s tweet was in reference to a coal mining contract Rajgopal Reddy’s son’s firm received from Coal India, which the BJP candidate had said was won fair and square through an open international bidding process. Rajgopal Reddy had said that he was talking about joining BJP for two years now, and it had nothing to do with the contract.
On Friday, Rama Rao had alleged that the BJP had decided to field Rajgopal Reddy after the latter promised to spend Rs 500 crore and distribute Rs 30,000 per vote at Munugode. Rama Rao had accused the BJP of deliberately forcing a byelection in Munugode by awarding a Rs 21,000-crore coal mining contract to Rajgopal Reddy's company in order to entice him to defect.
Declaring that the BJP was ready to debate the contract issue with Rama Rao, senior BJP leader and former MP G. Vivek Venkatswamy told reporters: “KTR who tweeted that Rajgopal joined the BJP because he got the contract from the Centre, has no clue. The contract was awarded after the firm emerged as L1 (the lowest bidder) citing Rs 620 per tonne of coal, which was then pared down by Coal India to Rs 540 per tonne before the contract was awarded. There was nothing illegal about the contract.”
Venkatswamy, chairman of the BJP’s Munugode campaign committee, in turn, alleged that it was the TRS government which robbed the state and its people by awarding high priced coal mining contracts in the state.
He said “KTR should remember that the Tadicherla coal mine block was given to AMR through TS Genco at the cost of Rs 3,500 per tonne of coal. The state gave Rs 3,000 more per tonne to the company. KTR must explain who is the one that is corrupt. The Tadicherla coal mine contract scam is worth Rs 20,000 crore. This must be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.”
He also said that TS Genco lost Rs 20,000 crore through this contract and that loss got added to its overall losses, which in turn have been passed on to people in the form of increased power tariffs. Genco suffered losses because of corruption by the K. Chandrashekar Rao government, he added.
