KCR family is involved in sand mafia: Congress

Hyderabad: The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) on Wednesday strongly condemned IT Minister K. Tarakarama Rao for his outburst against top leaders of Congress party and accused him of levelling baseless allegations. They also described TRS as " Treacherous, Robbers Samithi".

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan, TPCC Chief Spokesperson Dr. Dasoju Sravan said that the family members of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao were directly connected with sand mafia in Sircilla and other places. He said rules were twisted to allot tenders in favour of Goldmines Mineral Company. He asked whether or not KCR's close relative Santosh Kumar was a partner in the Goldmines Company.

By setting aside the directives of Green Tribunal were set aside, TRS Government has allowed indiscriminate mining of sand by putting the entire environment at risk. Further, he said that government was collecting only Rs. 8,250 for each truck of sand while the same was being sold in the open market for about Rs. 80,000. He said that the KCR family was directly benefitting from these illegal operations. He said only 25% of revenues from sand mining were coming to the State's Exchequer while the rest is going into the pockets of KCR family.

Sravan also condemned KTR for his silence on the police brutality on Dalits and others by Sircilla police. He said it was highly condemnable that by the minister was trying to justify third degree torture and brutality by police on those who protested against the death of local residents in road accidents caused due to illegal movement of hundreds of trucks in their small village. He said the villagers were tortured so brutally that the jail authorities refused to admit them and police was forced to take them in a hospital. By targeting Congress leaders, KTR is trying to hush up the entire issue, he alleged.

The Congress leader demanded that the State Government order an enquiry through a sitting judge of High Court into the entire incident. He said that the TRS Government, since its formation, has been mistreating Dalits. Stripping of Deputy CM's post from T. Rajaiah, Rohit Vemula's suicide and implication of Dalits in fake cases clearly show that the TRS Govt is anti-Dalit, he said.

Sravan said KTR should think twice before criticising TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy who had served the nation by joining the Indian Air Force. He said KTR had no stature to target Jairam Ramesh, Digvijay Singh or Uttam Kumar Reddy.

The Congress leader also claimed that KTR was lying about the present status of his company Himanshu Motors. While KTR, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday, claimed that he had closed the company about seven years ago, Sravan said KTR, in his election affidavit for 2014 elections, mentioned that he was a director in the company. Further, he said Himanshu Motors had filed the IT returns in 2015 and it is still an active company. He said KTR should not try to mislead people by making wrong claims. He demanded that KTR make public the details of entire transactions done by his company in the last three years past.

Sravan also slammed KTR for defending grant of tax exemptions to Swarna Bharathi Trust, an NGO belonging to the daughter of former Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu. He said that the Trust was in receipt of notices by the Union Home Ministry for non-filing of tax returns. He said at one side KTR criticised Venkaiah Naidu on multiple accession by branding him as anti-Telangana. On the other side, TRS Govt favoured his daughter's firm by granting tax exemptions of crores of rupees.

"KTR is power intoxicated and needs to be sent to a de-addiction centre," Sravan said while challenging the IT minister for an open debate on the issue at any place and time of his choice.

TPCC Vice-President Prasad Kumar, Youth Congress president Anil Kumar Yadav and other leaders were also present.