BJP MP Etela Rajender appears before Kaleshwaram commission

Telangana BJP MP and former finance minister Etela Rajender on Friday appeared before the inquiry committee on Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), headed by retired justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh.

He said the finance department had a limited role in the project once the budget was allocated.

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Rajender, who left the BRS for the BJP after a fallout with the then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was the finance minister during the first term of the BRS government.

Ahead of his interrogation, Rajender said that once the Budget gets allocated the finance department has a limited role in a project. “When it comes to design, planning and execution of the project we had a limited role,” he said.

Initially, the project cost was fixed at ₹82,000 crore but he was unaware of the final cost. A separate Kaleshwaram Project Corporation was also created to execute the project. According to him, the irrigation department handled all the funding and expenditure of KLIS while the finance Department was only concerned with budget allocation. The decisions regarding fund release were made by the irrigation department.

A large number of BJP workers gathered in his support as Rajender reached the commission’s office at BRK Bhavan.

The commission, which has already completed the majority of the investigation, is now ready to question political leaders. After Rajender, the commission has summoned T Harish Rao who was the irrigation minister before interrogating the then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Rao, popularly known as KCR sought the postponement of his interrogation to 11 June which was accepted by the commission.