Rajagopal Reddy alleges Rs 18L crore land scam by TRS govt

Hyderabad: Facing allegations of switching loyalties to the BJP after bagging Rs 18,000 crore contract from the Centre, party candidate in Munugodu by-election Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy has hit back at Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and his family.

Rajagopal Reddy has alleged that CM KCR's family has encroached lands worth Rs 18 lakh crore around Hyderabad by bringing Dharani portal.

Rajagopal Reddy, who has already filed nomination for November 3 by-election, claimed that it is the biggest land scam in the country. He demanded that the Telangana government issue a white paper on Dharani portal.

The state government had launched Dharani portal in 2020 for online registration of properties in Telangana. The portal is billed as a one-stop source for all revenue records.

Rajagopal Reddy's counter allegation came after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) launched a bitter attack on him for resigning from the Congress party and joining the BJP after his company was awarded Rs 18,000 crore by the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Rajagopal Reddy had quit the Congress and resigned from the Assembly in July. He subsequently joined the BJP at a public meeting addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Munugode constituency.

Both TRS and Congress have been slamming him for what they call "selling himself" to the BJP and imposing a by-election on the people of Munugode for the sake of contract.

Posters have appeared in the constituency targeting Rajagopal Reddy over the contract. The rival parties also alleged that he has assured the BJP that he would spend Rs 500 crore to win the bypoll.

The TRS has also offered to withdraw from the contest if the BJP announces Rs 18,000 crore for the development of Nalgonda district. TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said that since winning a seat makes no difference to the TRS, which has 105 seats in 119-Assembly seat, it was ready to pull out its candidate from the contest if the BJP announced the package for the development of Nalgonda.

Rama Rao said the BJP government ignored the recommendation of Niti Aayog to provide Rs 19,000 crore for Mission Bhagiratha to overcome the problem of fluorosis, but it gave Rs 18,000 crore to one person for political gain.

He took to Twitter again on Wednesday to make the offer that TRS is ready to withdraw from the contest if the Modi government declares a Rs 18,000 crore package for Nalgonda.

KTR wrote that if one person makes one the wealthiest people in the world, it does not add to the country's wealth and that if one person is awarded the contract, it does no good to a district.

He said the Modi government gave Rs 80,000 crore package to Gujarat in the last five years. "Can't you give Rs 18,000 crore to Telangana," he asked.