Hyderabad: BRS working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) on Saturday alleged that a company owned by Telangana revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy was being favoured in the tender process for the Phase-II works of Kodangal–Narayanpet–Makthal lift irrigation project.
He also questioned the increase in the project cost from Rs 1,450 crore to Rs 6,825 crore, alleging that the expenditure had risen substantially without any water being supplied under the project.
In a post on social media platform X, KTR, citing Telugu newspaper reports, alleged that the minister’s company had participated in the tender process while the other bidders were dummy companies intended to create an appearance of competition.
KTR sarcastically remarked that although tenders would be invited, only those associated with the Congress government would secure the contracts. He said in the post, "Heads they win, tails also they will only win. Wah!!! What a set-up!"
He alleged that the tender process had been structured to benefit a single company and questioned the steep increase in the project cost.
"Basically! Sole runner wins the race!" Rama Rao said, alleging that the tender process lacked genuine competition.
"While people of Telangana are standing in tanker queues for water, these shameless Congressies are looting Telangana’s resources in the name of irrigation projects," KTR said in the post.
Tagging Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Rama Rao questioned the alleged irregularities and used the terms "Crony Capitalism-Daylight Robbery-Kleptocracy!" to describe the tender process.
The minister's company and another company has secured tenders for the Phase-1 of the project. The tenders for Phase-II works has closed in October.
The project's phase-1 works expected to completed by December 2027 and the phase-2 works by October 2028.