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Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Wednesday, September 16, alleged in the Assembly that BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao and his family members own land far in excess of the limits prescribed under the Telangana Land Reforms (Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings) Act.
He said an inquiry will be conducted into alleged encroachment of government land by KCR and his family.
CM Revanth said the law permits a maximum holding of 27 acres, and alleged that former CM KCR and his wife own 67.13 acres in Siddipet district.
“We have seen people agitating for a cause, losing everything they owned. But one family benefitted immensely in Telangana in the name of statehood agitation and its aftermath,” CM Revanth said. He alleged that KCR’s farmhouse in Erravelli was spread over more than 700 acres, including 388 acres of government land meant to be assigned to Dalit families for livelihood. He said the government would inquire into the land and planned to distribute the land among 800 Dalit families.
The Chief Minister directed revenue authorities to issue a notice to KCR seeking his explanation and said that a fact-finding team would inspect the property. He warned that action would be taken against officials if negligence was established.
According to the Chief Minister, KCR’s son and BRS working president KT Rama Rao along with his wife and two children own 123.19 acres in Siddipet and Rangareddy districts. .
Revanth alleged that former minister and KCR’s nephew, T Harish Rao and his wife, hold 30.16 acres in Siddipet and Rangareddy districts.
KCR’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha and her husband, Revanth alleged, own 37.26 acres, while the family of KCR’s nephew and Namasthe Telangana Managing Director Joginapally Santosh Kumar and his family allegedly owns 79.20 acres.
He also alleged that KTR’s farmhouse at Janwada was developed on land belonging to B Ramalinga Raju of the erstwhile Satyam Group. He claimed that property belonging to Satabisha, a company owned by Ramalinga Raju and later attached by enforcement agencies in the Satyam scam, was legally transferred to KTR in 2015.
The CM further alleged that KCR’s relative Naveen Kumar owned 101.14 acres across Medchal-Malkajgiri, Rangareddy, Sangareddy and Siddipet districts. The holdings cited by the Chief Minister add up to 439.3 acres spread across nine districts, 24 mandals and 31 villages. He said the figures did not include properties allegedly held through benamis.
Telangana Rakshana Sena chief Kavitha, who has split from the BRS and formed her own party amid differences especially with her cousins Joginapally Santhosh and Harish Rao, refuted the allegations against her. She said that if any land in her name is found in excess of those mentioned in her election affidavits, she would surrender it to the government.
Kavitha also sought a CBI probe into the list of lands read out by the CM, including those owned by Harish Rao, Joginapally Santhosh, and other BRS leaders including Naveen Rao, Kondal Rao, Gangula Kamalakar, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Jagadish Reddy, Rameswar Rao, Pratima Srinivas Rao, Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, Sudheer Reddy, and Pilot Rohith Reddy “to bring out the truth.”
She hinted that she believed Harish Rao and CM Revanth were acting in collusion.
Harish Rao too denied the allegations of excess land ownership, and said CM Revanth was trying to divert attention from issues of failure in governance.
