CM Revanth seeks meet with Railway Minister on Hyderabad Metro

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Saturday, June 20, wrote to Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy, asking him to arrange a meeting with Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to discuss matters related to the Hyderabad Metro.

The Chief Minister said that he will visit Delhi on June 22 and 23, and would like to discuss the pending matters concerning Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) financing and Phase-II of the Hyderabad Metro.

Revanth Reddy had written to Kishan Reddy on June 16 stating that despite the Telangana government fulfilling all the preconditions for the IRFC loan and paying an advance fee of Rs. 84.32 crore, the first tranche of the loan agreed by IRFC was not released on June 15.

He urged Kishan Reddy to take up the matter with Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and ensure the sanctioned amount is released without further delay. He also offered to personally attend a meeting with relevant officials and submit supporting documents if any additional information was needed.

Revanth accuses Kishan Reddy of causing hurdles

On June 15, Revanth accused Kishan Reddy of creating hurdles for the disbursement of a Rs 13,600 crore refinancing loan by IRFC and claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) were conspiring together to derail the project.

“Kishan Reddy met Union Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on May 20 and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on May 21 and told them that if you facilitate work so easily for Revanth Reddy, it would be difficult for the BJP to continue in Telangana. Because of this complication, the Centre is not disbursing loans. That’s why I have been after Kishan Reddy all these days,” he told reporters.

He said he was questioning Kishan Reddy as the former is the sole Union Cabinet Minister from Telangana.

However, Kishan Reddy rejected the CM’s allegations, saying that the release of the Rs 13,600 crore refinanced loan involved technical issues that the state government needed to resolve by sitting across the table with Central officials.

“The central government is committed to the development of Hyderabad, irrespective of which political party is in power. We will not show any bias,” Kishan Reddy said, adding that Revanth Reddy was resorting to a blame game to cover up his own failures.