Hyderabad, Jul 2 (PTI) A high drama unfolded here on Thursday as ministers of the Congress government arrived at the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial to engage in a public debate with the opposition BRS leaders over allegations of scams and debt accumulation that both the ruling and opposition parties have raised against each other.
When BRS leader T Harish Rao started from his party office to reach the martyrs’ memorial to engage in a debate, he was stopped by police, and he claimed his attempt to reach out to ministers to let him come, failed.
It all began with State Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Minister for SC Development Adluri Lakshman Kumar and Minister for Minorities Welfare Mohammad Azharuddin reaching the Telangana Martyrs Memorial located in front of the legislature complex, for a debate on the allegation of Rs 2,000 crore corruption in tenders of state-run social welfare residential schools.
BRS leader R S Praveen Kumar, who had made this allegation earlier, challenged Lakshman Kumar and others for a debate on his allegations of corruption in tenders for procurement of certain items for the social welfare residential schools.
Speaking to reporters at the Martyrs Memorial, Prabhakar dismissed the allegations, asserting that the value of the tenders is not even Rs 2,000 crores.
Prabhakar said he and his cabinet colleagues are ready for debate with democratically elected MLAs of BRS but not with others.
Meanwhile, BRS MLA Harish Rao, a nephew of the party president K Chandrasekhar Rao, started from the BRS headquarters to reach the Martyrs Memorial to debate with the ministers.
However, Harish Rao and other leaders were stopped by police outside the TRS headquarters.
In a dramatic development, sitting in the car, Harish Rao claimed to have called Ministers Prabhakar, Lakshman Kumar and Azharuddin to ensure he could reach the Martyrs Memorial without being stopped by the police. He also claimed that the ministers did not respond to his calls.
Amid sloganeering by BRS workers, Rao said he will reach the Martyrs Memorial on foot.
He was taken away from the place by the police. Speaking to reporters, Harish Rao asked why the Congress government should stop him by using the police if it has not committed any irregularities in tenders.
Separately, state Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao also reached the Martyrs Memorial later for a debate with BRS Working President K T Rama Rao on the government debt during the BRS regime.
Dismissing KTR’s claim that the debt accumulated during the BRS regime was only Rs 2.80 lakh crore, Krishna Rao said the total debt incurred by the BRS government was about Rs 8 lakh crore.
Krishna Rao on July 1 said he is ready for a debate with KTR even at the BRS headquarters on the matter.
The BRS Working President told reporters at the BRS headquarters on Thursday that Krishna Rao beat a retreat, though he waited for him for the discussion.
Speaking after releasing funds under the ‘Rythu Bandhu’ investment support scheme for farmers on June 30, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said he was ready for a debate on the Congress government’s last 30 months, the 10-year rule of BRS, and the 12-year rule of the NDA government at the Centre.
Meanwhile, Union MoS (Home) Bandi Sanjay Kumar said watching “Congress & BRS drama is like watching Bigg Boss TV Reality Show”.
The two parties fight in front of the cameras but protect each other when it matters, he said.
“Enough of these political theatrics. I will personally request @BJP4Telangana President Sri @N_RamchanderRao garu to set the stage for an open public debate with these parties. Let Congress and BRS answer the people on Gurukul tenders, Telangana’s mounting debt, corruption and governance failures,” he said in a post on X.
The BJP will expose both the Congress and BRS with facts and also present the contribution of the Central Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Telangana’s growth and development, he said.
Telangana is ready for a “double elimination” of Congress and BRS, and to welcome a double-engine BJP government, he added. PTI SJR SJR ADB
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