Even as the judicial commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice P. C. Ghose is set to submit its report on Monday regarding the alleged irregularities in the construction of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) appears desperate to defend the project.
In recent days, top BRS leaders — particularly working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) and former minister T Harish Rao — have repeatedly brought up Kaleshwaram and Medigadda in their speeches, seemingly to deflect blame. However, analysts suggest that these attempts are backfiring.
By continually referencing the issue and making irrational or inappropriate statements, BRS leaders are inadvertently keeping the Medigadda collapse controversy alive in the public eye.
“This is a time that calls for restraint — especially from those whose decade-long governance was marked by major failures. Reckless remarks by public figures only damage their own credibility,” an analyst commented.
On Sunday, KTR made a baseless and thoughtless statement about the Medigadda barrage, alleging that the BRS suspects the "luchcha" Congress party might have played a role in the collapse of the pillars.
“Some people were there; no one knows what they did. Several farmers said they heard explosion-like sounds when the two pillars collapsed,” KTR claimed.
This isn’t the first time BRS leaders have made such accusations. KTR, echoing his father KCR’s past rhetoric, made bizarre and laughable claims — reminiscent of KCR’s 2022 remark blaming a “cloudburst conspiracy” by foreign nations for floods in the Godavari catchment.
In July 2022, 17 "Bahubali motors" were damaged due to heavy rains. Six motors were completely destroyed when a protection wall collapsed, incurring repair costs exceeding ₹1,000 crore.
“Even now, it’s unclear how many motors are operational or what happened to the six that were to be imported from Austria,” an engineer pointed out.
At the time, KCR claimed that foreign powers were targeting the Godavari region, just as they had allegedly targeted Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand.
Now, KTR is suggesting sabotage and explosions as causes for the Medigadda collapse, pointing fingers at the Congress party.
But if they truly suspected sabotage, why didn’t the then-BRS government take decisive action? Despite farmer complaints and mounting doubts, they remained passive. If they genuinely believed the Congress was involved, why didn’t they request a CBI investigation?
“Why didn’t the BRS approach the courts for a judicial probe or an independent inquiry monitored by the judiciary? Instead, they let the issue drift—even though it concerned their flagship, most prestigious project,” the analyst added.
Now, with the Congress in power, BRS continues to revive the issue only through rhetorical attacks — ironically helping Congress by keeping Kaleshwaram at the forefront of public discussion.
