Hyderabad
K. T. Rama Rao, working president of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), accused the Congress-led Telangana government of involvement in a paddy lifting and rice procurement scam worth Rs 1,000 crore. He called upon Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Civil Supplies Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy to clear their names by initiating a judicial inquiry led by a sitting judge.
At a press conference held at the BRS central office in Hyderabad on Sunday, KTR alleged that CM Revanth Reddy and Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy were implicated in the scam within the civil supply department. He accused them of hastily awarding tenders to four companies for paddy lifting from rice millers in the state, despite lacking urgency in fulfilling electoral promises.
According to KTR, local rice millers were willing to purchase paddy at higher rates than those quoted by the government-contracted companies. He further accused these companies of demanding additional money from millers, leading to an estimated scam of Rs 800 crore.
KTR demanded transparency from the government, urging the release of a white paper detailing the paddy lifting process and addressing allegations of money collection instead of paddy from millers. He criticized the government’s silence on the issue and called for the immediate cancellation of tender awarding letters for fine rice procurement from the implicated companies. KTR urged the BJP to involve central agencies and the FCI to investigate the scam, expressing suspicion over the central government’s silence on the matter.
