KCR has right to demand recuse: Ex-mantri

Hyderabad: Alleging that the Justice L Narasimha Reddy Commission had expressed the views of the Congress and BJP leaders and adopted an anti-KCR approach, BRS leader G Jagadish Reddy said on Sunday that the former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao had the right to seek a change of inquiry officer.

Addressing a press conference here at Telangana Bhavan, Reddy said the ERC was an independent body and its judgement was final. He asked how the government could form the commission after the ERC ruling.

“Narasimha Reddy has no knowledge about this? How can he address a press conference on June 11 when the deadline to reply was June 15? KCR has written the letter to explain facts to the people of Telangana,” he said, hoping Narasimha Reddy would step down as the inquiry commission was irrelevant.

The former Energy Minister said, along with the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Chhattisgarh, the construction of Yadadri and Bhadradri Thermal Power Plant was done by public sector companies. The previous government had openly entered into agreements with the Chhattisgarh government.

‘The BJP leaders should answer whether KCR gave any bribe to the former CM Raman Singh. The commission was constituted with conspiracy as a motive. The PPAs had been entered into with Central government organisations; if there were irregularities, the Centre should disclose them. States like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had quoted a higher price to purchase power, whereas Telangana procured it for Rs 3.9 per unit, Reddy claimed.

He said the 800 MW capacity Bhadradri Thermal Power Plant was established with supercritical technology. The government handed over the Bhadradri and Yadadri plants to PSU BHEL with utmost transparency. The Yadadri plant was proposed at Damaracherla for the development of all regions. Is it not a fact that thermal power plants were established in Vijayawada and Kadapa without the availability of power?” asked Reddy.

The BRS leader urged the commission to call the former Chhattisgarh CM and BHEL chairman for an inquiry. ‘The Centre had brought an Act mandating the State governments to have projects only with supercritical technology after 2017, and till then any technology could be used. The commission chairman should answer why he talked about losses even before the inquiry. The commission is biased and he should step down, he demanded.