Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Sunday, September 28, blamed Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy for costing the state Rs 15,000 crore due to L&T’s exit from Hyderabad Metro Rail.
KTR stated that this is the latest issue, compounded by Telangana’s debt burden. In a post on X, the Sircilla MLA said, “One man’s incompetence & Telangana suffers. You managed to derail the development of Telangana, yet again! Not just because of your insurmountable incompetence but also because of your superfluous ego.”
Expressing dismay over the exit of L&T, the former Telangana municipal administration minister said that Revanth Reddy’s “super inflated ego” prompted the abrupt cancellation of the Airport Metro line, rerouting it towards a “nonexistent ‘Fourth City’” to serve the CM’s “real estate needs.”
Pointing out that Reddy had bragged on national television that he had asked the police to jail the CFO of L&T, Rama Rao said this was a move aimed at dragging their name through the mud and destroying them over threats tied to the Medigadda barrage issues in the Kaleshwaram project.
“You threatened a huge corporation like L&T with cases in Medigadda just for your sick political narratives and commissions,” he said, calling the episode an instance of revenge politics that had now backfired. “But luckily for L&T, they don’t have to put up with an incompetent Chief Minister, unlike the rest of Telangana. They are walking away!” he added.
The BRS working president further said, “The cost of your super-inflated ego and goondagardi (rowdyism) is Rs 15,000 crore debt on Telangana taxpayers.”
KTR also listed out the Congress government’s governance failures, including fee reimbursement, the stalled Arogyasri programme, pending six guarantees and a severe financial crisis.
L&T exits Hyderabad Metro
KTR’s remark comes days after L&T announced its exit from the Hyderabad Metro Rail project. On September 25, the Telangana government announced that it would formally take over the Hyderabad Metro rail project from L&T Metro.
It was agreed in principle that the state government will take over the existing Phase 1 of the metro rail by assuming the project’s debt, which now stands at approximately Rs 13,000 crore. Telangana also agreed to pay about Rs 2,000 crore to L&T as a one-time settlement.
The decision was made after negotiations were held between both sides to expedite Phase 2 of the metro rail. Until now, there were speculations that L&T would exit the project due to mounting debt and no profits.
According to a statement from the Telangana government, Hyderabad has also slipped to the ninth position in India in terms of metro network. The state government has also submitted proposals for the sanction of eight lines as part of the phase 2A and 2B expansion for the Hyderabad Metro rail, totalling about 163 kilometres of additional metro network.
“The primary concern expressed by the Centre is that the proposed phase 2 is being executed by a government agency while phase 1 metro in Hyderabad is a private entity and insisted on a definitive agreement with L&T for operational integration of phase 1 with the proposed phase 2 to process the proposal further,” said the Telangana government in a statement on Thursday, September 25.
The Centre also requested L&T Metro to participate in the Phase 2 Hyderabad Metro rail project as a joint venture. However, L&T conveyed that it will neither be able to participate in either Phase 2A or Phase 2B as an equity partner nor sign the definitive agreement, and expressed its willingness to offer its equity stake to state or central government.
