Hyderabad: Congress senior leader and government adviser Mohammed Ali Shabbir questioned BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao's claims of honesty, alleged that the family’s wealth had risen by 30 times, and challenged him to a debate on the matter.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Friday, Shabbir Ali released the declaration of assets by BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao's family members, which showed that Rama Rao’s assets had grown from Rs 4.32 crore in 2009 to Rs 53.32 crore in 2023, an increase of over 12 times.
Harish Rao’s assets, Shabbir Ali said, rose from Rs 67.57 lakh in 2009 to Rs 24.29 crore in 2023, marking a 36-fold increase.
Chandrashekar Rao’s assets jumped from Rs 86 lakh in 2004 to Rs 58.93 crore in 2023, growing over 68 times, while Kalvakuntla Kavita’s assets surged from Rs 6.19 crore in 2014 to Rs 39.79 crore in 2023, an increase of over six times.
On average, Chandrashekar Rao’s family’s wealth had increased by 30.81 times during this period, he said.
Shabbir Ali asked whether the family had legitimate business ventures or investments to justify such a massive financial growth. He challenged Rama Rao to provide a detailed account of his family’s wealth in an open debate, asserting that transparency was necessary to clear allegations of corruption.
The Congress leader accused Rama Rao of making baseless allegations against the government to divert attention from corruption charges against the BRS government and the Chandrashekar Rao family. He cited high-profile cases, including a judicial probe into irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Project, allegations of phone tapping, and an FIR in the Formula E car race scam.
He referred to the special investigation team (SIT) probe ordered by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy into irregularities in leasing the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to a private company for 30 years. These cases, he said, exposed rampant corruption during the BRS government’s tenure.
Shabbir Ali said BRS leaders were involved in several other scams and they would soon go to jail. He questioned why Rama Rao was focusing on baseless criticism instead of addressing these serious allegations.
Shabbir Ali pointed out that Rama Rao had made a U-turn in the Formula E race case. Initially, the BRS leader defended sanctioning the funds in his capacity as the minister concerned. In his affidavit submitted to the High Court, Rama Rao shifted the blame onto officials, Shabbir Ali pointed out, adding “KTR's attempts to hide corruption will fail.”
He denied that the Congress was pursuing political vendetta and pointed to the arrest of Revanth Reddy, who was then attending Parliament, with regard to flying drones over Rama Rao’s farmhouse.
Shabbir Ali also criticised BRS MLC Kavita for wrongly blaming the Congress government for a rise in crime rates. He attributed most crimes to alcohol abuse, which he said was promoted by the BRS government through its liquor policies. He noted that Kavitha was arrested in a liquor scam and was out on interim bail.
Shabbir Ali accused the BRS government of doing injustice to Backward Classes (BCs) by reducing their reservation in local bodies. In contrast, Shabbir Ali said, the Congress government had completed a caste census to ensure justice for OBCs and other communities.
