Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], August 11 : BRS Working President KT Rama Rao on Tuesday alleged that the Telangana government "gifted" land worth Rs 200 crore for Rs 7 crore to a company linked to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's brother, Kondal Reddy, and questioned the government over the alleged transaction.
Rama Rao alleged that Kondal Reddy is associated with Tesseract Advanced Systems Limited, a company which, according to its annual report, has a paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh and does not have a single employee. He questioned why the state government would allot land valued at around Rs 200 crore to such a company for Rs 7 crore.
"Revanth Reddy's brother, Kondal Reddy, created a company called Tesseract Advanced Systems Limited, which has a paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh. According to its annual report, it does not have a single employee. The Revanth Reddy government gifted land worth Rs 200 crore to that company for Rs 7 crore," KTR said.
The BRS leader further alleged that the state government had denied any connection between the Chief Minister's brother and the company. He claimed, however, that Kondal Reddy had identified himself as Chairman of Tesseract Advanced Systems and had participated in engagements with the US Consul General.
"On one hand, you say his brother has no connection with this company, and on the other hand, he posts on his LinkedIn profile that he is the Chairman of this company. The truth must come out. We want to ask Revanth Reddy ji to tell us the truth," he said.
Rama Rao questioned whether similar benefits would be extended to other startups with minimal paid-up capital and alleged that separate rules were being applied for the Chief Minister's family.
"Tomorrow, if another startup forms a company with Rs 1 lakh equity, will you give them land worth Rs 200-300 crore without following any due process? Or are there separate laws and rules for your brothers? You will have to answer," he said.
KTR also alleged that several members of Revanth Reddy's family, including his brothers and brother-in-law, had secured government contracts worth thousands of crores in Telangana. He said the BRS would approach the Governor, Lokayukta, other institutions and courts over the matter.
"This is a scam bigger than the MUDA scam in Karnataka, which forced Siddaramaiah ji to consider resigning. It is even bigger than that. We will not let this go; the Congress government and Rahul Gandhi ji will have to answer," he said.
The allegations come a day after KTR raised questions over the proposed PM Ekta (Unity) Mall at Raidurg in Hyderabad, alleging irregularities in the tender process and demanding its cancellation and an independent probe.
KTR had alleged that the project, estimated to cost around Rs 2,059.81 crore excluding land value, involved approximately 6.30 acres of prime land and around 27 lakh square feet of built-up area. He questioned the allocation of commercial space to a private developer and the proposed routing of a Rs 200-crore interest-free Central loan through Telangana Trade Promotion Corporation Limited.
The BRS leader had also urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to stop further release of funds and sought an independent examination of the project's land valuation, financial model, tender conditions, bid evaluation and allocation of commercial rights.
KTR also questioned the BJP over the alleged lack of action on complaints previously submitted by the BRS regarding alleged irregularities in Telangana.
"We also question the BJP. We filed a complaint a year ago about all of this, and till today, there has been no response from your side. What kind of understanding exists here? You need to clarify that too," he said.