Sparks flew between legislators of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when floor leader of the latter P. Vishnukumar Raju demanded an inquiry into the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the execution of the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Project by both the CBI and a sitting judge in the Assembly here on Wednesday.
Participating in a discussion on the Demands for Grants for 2018-19, Mr. Raju said the CAG report had mentioned irregularities in the execution of the scheme.
Reacting strongly, Minister for Transport K Atchannaidu charged the former ally with indulging in the “worst kind of mudslinging”. The Minister recalled how sections of the CAG report were read out by Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and how a fitting reply was given to him.
The Minister charged Mr. Raju with bringing up an issue that was nearly three years old as part of a strategy to weaken the Telugu Desam that was fighting for the Special Category Status and the other promises made at the time of the bifurcation.
Loses cool
Mr. Atchannaidu lost his cool a couple of times but Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao gestured him to calm down.
Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said there was no need for a CBI inquiry as a sitting judge of the High Court was seized of the matter. “Replies have been given to all the observations made by CAG and correspondence was going on,” he said.
Mr. Rao also said the BJP MLAs, who were quiet for so long, were trying to use the CAG report as some sort of a weapon. The BJP MLAs and the MPs, who were full of praise for the scheme, were now finding fault with it. He read from a newspaper clipping the way BJP MP K Haribabu had praised the project.
Mr. Raju, trying to defend himself, said he did not bring up the CAG report earlier because he had no idea about it only to be heckled by the TDP MLAs.
