Congress came to power in Telangana, riding a wave of voter disgust against the rampant corruption of the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime. Congress leaders, from Rahul Gandhi to Revanth Reddy, had promised not only to punish the guilty BRS leaders but also to recover every paisa looted by them, especially by the then Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and his family members, and return the money to the state’s coffers.
Yet, Congress’s actions after coming to power leave no option for the voters but to conclude that, instead of exposing the corruption of the erstwhile BRS regime, Congress had colluded to protect them in return for a share in their loot. Eighteen months after coming to power with Revanth Reddy as the Chief Minister, the only case registered was in the Formula-E race case for procedural irregularities, without any serious charges of corruption or a quid pro quo against Rama Rao, the then Municipal Minister and son of KCR.
Of the many alleged scams committed by the BRS regime, one involving corruption in the execution of the Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) stands out for its scale. The Congress had demanded a CBI investigation into the Kaleswaram scam, alleging tens of thousands of crores in corruption before the BRS came to power. One day after Rahul Gandhi visited the Medigadda barrage, whose piers had sunk, turning the entire project into a white elephant, the Congress wrote to the President of India requesting a CBI probe. Congress even campaigned with cardboard Kaleswaram ATM models, alleging the Kaleswaram project has become an ATM for the corrupt BRS.
However, the first action of the Congress after coming to power was to do a complete U-turn and reject a CBI investigation into the scam. KCR, fearing the CBI, which had arrested his daughter Kavitha in the Delhi Liquor Scam, had banned the CBI from the state. The Congress not only rejected a CBI investigation into the Kaleswaram scam but also continued the ban on CBI imposed by KCR. A three-member panel, comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (currently Rahul Gandhi), and the Chief Justice of India, appoints the CBI chief to ensure the agency’s independence. Yet, Congress brazenly floated the false narrative that the BJP would control the CBI to cover up BRS’s corruption. Instead, it would utilise state agencies like the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which works under the direct control of CM Revanth Reddy, who is also the Home Minister.
To date, the Congress government has not filed a single case against any politician in the Kaleswaram scam. The government never even tasked the Anti-Corruption Bureau with investigating the fraud. The only investigation it launched was against officials from the irrigation department by the state’s Vigilance Commission. Not surprisingly, the Commission found a conspiracy to defraud the state exchequer and recommended filing criminal charges against 17 officers of the department, including the highest-level officers, such as Engineers-in-Chief. It also advised the department to initiate major penalty proceedings against 33 serving and 7 retired officers of the department.
The Vigilance Commission submitted its report in March. Three months later, the government hasn’t filed a single case against any officer. It is well aware that if it books the officers, they will reveal the truth and implicate their political bosses—the then Irrigation Minister and the then Chief Minister, who controlled the execution of the Kaleswaram project. Any government intent on exposing the masterminds behind the fraud will even turn some of them into approvers, with the court’s permission, and gather evidence. But no. The Congress does not want to do any of that.
Instead of probes and cases by anti-corruption agencies, Congress appointed a Commission to conduct a broad judicial inquiry into alleged design, execution, financial and procedural irregularities in the Kaleswaram project. Unlike investigative agencies, the Commission cannot search and seize evidence, nor can it arrest and interrogate accused individuals and frame charges. Once the Commission submits its report, the government must task its investigative agencies with gathering hard evidence of corruption and the flow of money and build a case to charge any accused. It provides the government with an opportunity to delay the process by many more years.
The intent of Congress to shield BRS leaders from corruption charges is evident, considering the lack of action in many other alleged scams. They include phone tapping, poultry feed and egg purchases, goat distribution, land grabbing through the misuse of the Dharani portal, and many more. It is evident that the Congress party, which was steeped in corruption at both the Centre and various states when it was in power, never had any intention of holding the BRS leadership to account. Their only aim is to share the loot and gain leverage over BRS to force its long-promised merger into the Congress.
(The author is BJP TS spokesperson.)
