Ponnam ready to furnish evidence

Nalgonda: Reiterating that he was ready to present evidence substantiating his allegations of corruption against Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy if an inquiry was ordered by the government, former Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar on Thursday demanded Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to remove Jagadish Reddy from the State Cabinet. He also criticised Chandrashekar Rao for selecting a private college owner Palla Rajeshwar Reddy as TRS candidate of the Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam graduates’ constituency of Legislative Council.

Addressing the media here, Ponnam Prabhakar, along with Nalgonda MP Gutha Sukendhar Reddy and Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam graduates’ constituency Congress candidate Teenmar Mallanna, alleged that Jagadish Reddy and Rajeshwar Reddy were ‘kingpins’ in corruption linked with release of funds of fee reimbursement to private colleges. He accused Rajeshwar Reddy of being responsible for the closure of 180 engineering colleges in the State, which were set up by the unemployed persons. Due to his conspiracy, several small engineering colleges were forced to close down. He did not even spare the college of his own sister, he alleged.

Stating that Chandrashekar Rao had selected Rajeshwar Reddy as the party candidate only because of his financial muscle, the former MP recalled that Rajeshwar Reddy had never participated in the Telangana agitation. Moreover, he ran his educational institutions during the Sakalajanula Samme also, he said.

Launching a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, Prabhakar said that a person holding a responsible post keeping silence on corruption meant that he was also involved in the deal. He questioned how the Chief Minister, who termed engineering colleges ‘poultry farms’ and tuition fee reimbursement a ‘bogus one’, released the arrears of fee reimbursement without any inquiry. He said the Chief Minister, who was spending crores of rupees in the name of ‘Vaasthu’, was not showing interest to extend financial help to the families of 1,200 Telangana martyrs. He pointed out that the State government had released a meagre Rs 47 crore for financial assistance of families of 470 martyrs.

The former MP pointed out that the Chief Minister did not even express his displeasure at the injustice meted out to Telangana in the Railway Budget and the Union Budget.

Objecting to the statement of the Chief Minister that Telangana was a financially rich State, he questioned why the suicides of farmers were continuing in the State. “The TRS government has utterly failed to fulfil its pre-poll promises made to the people,” he added.