Telangana Ex-CM KCR, Two Cabinet Colleagues Summoned by Commission Examining Kaleswaram Irregularities
Hyderabad: Former Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been summoned to face an inquiry by a one-man commission headed by former Supreme Court judge and the first Lokpal of the country, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, into alleged irregularities in construction of Kaleswaram lift irrigation project in the state.
He was served notice to appear before the commission at its office at BRK Bhavan here on June 5 while two of his former cabinet colleagues T. Harish Rao and Eatala Rajender were summoned on June 6 and 9 respectively.
While Harish Rao was irrigation minister in the cabinet of Chandrasekhar Rao during his first term as chief minister from June 2014 to December 2018, Rajender was finance minister for the same period. Harish Rao later became finance minister in the second term, from September 2019 to November 2023. Chandrasekhar Rao also held the portfolio of irrigation throughout the second term when the project was dedicated to the nation by then governor E.S.L. Narasimhan.
The role of the finance ministers had come under the scanner as they were held responsible for all the expenditure met under the project and borrowing of loans through an exclusive corporation.
The notices to the three leaders sprang a surprise in official and political circles since it was widely believed that the commission was set to submit a 400-page report at the end of this month without giving them a hearing. Reports speculated that the commission felt that there was no need to hear them because the proceedings were mostly evidence-based and dependent on documents. Several argued that, if summoned, the leaders would deny many of the contentions which would require further cross-examination of witnesses and delay the submission of the report.
The state government has also extended the term of the commission by two months up to July 31. This is the eighth extension given to the commission since it was constituted in March last year, three months after the Congress assumed power in the state. Initially, the commission was set a deadline of three months to complete its work but it was given seven extensions with the last one expiring on May 31, 2025, as the volume of work involved was significant.
Several engineers, contracting firms, executing agencies and officials right up to then chief secretary of the government Somesh Kumar were looked at. Even the present chief secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao who was principal finance secretary and a senior official in the Chief Minister's Office Smita Sabharwal deposed before the commission. Many stakeholders and public representatives presented their version in the form of sworn affidavits.
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