Hyderabad: The BRS working president KT Rama Rao accused Congress of a Rs 1,000 crore paddy lifting and rice procurement scam in the state. He demanded that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy clear themselves of the allegations.
Rao also challenged the government to start a judicial probe with a sitting judge into the alleged scam. He claimed that the Congress party’s policy was ‘Galli mein looto… Delhi mein baanto’.
According to Rao, the civil supplies department awarded tenders to four companies to lift paddy from rice millers in the state. The CM and Minister established a committee and issued guidelines, all on January 25. The Congress was accused of looting government funds through global tenders for 35 lakh metric tons of paddy. Local rice millers were willing to buy the same paddy for Rs 2,100 per quintal, but the Congress government sold it at lower prices to companies like Kendriya Bhandar, LG Industries, Hindustan Company, and NACAF.
Rao further accused these four companies of blackmailing local rice millers by demanding Rs 2,230 per quintal, which is Rs 200 more than their tendered rates, resulting in an alleged Rs 800 crore scam.
The BRS leader called for the release of a white paper by the government detailing how much paddy had been lifted and addressing the allegations of money collection from millers instead of procuring paddy.
