BRS gives privilege notice against BJP MP for 'misleading' LS on Kaleshwaram project

Hyderabad/New Delhi, Aug (IANS) Telangana's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Thursday moved a privilege notice against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey for "deliberately misleading" the Lok Sabha regarding the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme.

The BRS MPs, led by the party Lok Sabha floor leader Nama Nageswara Rao, submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla under Rule 222 on Thursday.

During the discussion on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Dubey had claimed that the BJP government at the Centre gave Rs 86,000 crore for the construction of the Kaleshwaram project in Telangana.

He had made the claim while intervening when Nageswara Rao was speaking on the motion.

The BRS MP was explaining the "injustice" meted out by the Union government to Telangana without providing necessary financial assistance and implementing the provisions made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

The BRS said in the notice that Dubey’s comments are completely false. It said the MP tried to mislead the members as well as the people of the country.

MPs Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, Malothu Kavitha, G. Ranjith Reddy, P. Ramulu, B.B. Patil, Manne Srinivas Reddy, Venkatesh Netha, and Pasunuri Dayakar were part of the BRS MPs delegation who met the Speaker.

Nageswara Rao declared that if it is proved that the Centre provided funds for Kaleshwaram project, all the BRS MPs would resign.

The BRS has reacted strongly to the BJP MP’s claim. It said the Centre had not given a single penny to Kaleshwaram.

State Finance Minister T. Harish Rao said that the BJP MP misled the Lok Sabha and the entire nation with the blatant lies that the Central government funded Kaleshwaram Project with Rs 86,000 crore.

The Kaleshwaram project was built by Telangana government under the leadership of CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao with state's own funds and the loans taken by the state government, he said adding that not a single rupee was given by the Centre.

"It’s a shame on the part of BJP leaders to claim that the Centre funded the Kaleshwaram. One BJP leader said that Kaleshwaram is like an ATM for BRS while other BJP leaders certified that corruption did not take place in the construction of Kaleshwaram. Now, another BJP MP says the Centre funded Kaleshwaram. BJP leaders are speaking in different tunes," said Harish Rao.

"This is nothing but an attempt by the BJP to derive political mileage by doing false propaganda," he alleged.

He also noted that the Centre has not conferred national project status on Kaleshwaram, despite repeated requests.