Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) exchanged allegations and counter-allegations on X on Friday, when the 10th commercial coal block auction of Sravanapalli block was launched by Union coal and mines minister G Kishan Reddy.
It started with KTR writing an open letter to Revanth questioning why he has allowed his deputy chief minister to participate in the bidding process, when in 2021, as the TPCC president the latter had demanded the Centre to stop the auction of coal blocks and the transfer of 4 coal blocks to Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL).
KTR asked Revanth why the Congress government wasn’t questioning the Centre on the direct allocation of mines exempted from auctioning to public sector undertakings (PSU) in Gujarat and Odisha by NDA government.
In his reply, Revanth reminded KTR that the first and second tranches of selling-off coal blocks of SCCL were done by the Centre and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) during the BRS regime. Revanth questioned why BRS has never spoke against that auctioning where Aurobindo and Avantika, which he claimed were close to BRS, had won the bid.
Revanth also recalled how the present deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had not only protested against privatisation and auction of SCCL blocks, but also demanded the revoking and return of coal blocks sold to Aurobindo and Avanthika.
Calling it an irony that the person who sold-off Singareni and Outer-ring road (ORR) toll collection rights (KTR) was speaking on the issue of coal blocks auction now, Revanth assured him that the interests of the people of Telangana were safe with the Congress.
Revanth also posted the letter written by Bhatti Vikramarka on Thursday to Kishan Reddy, requesting the latter to de-list the Sravanapalli coal block from being auctioned, and to allocate Koyagudem Block-II, Sathupalli Block-III, PK OC-II Dip side block and other blocks identified by SCCL within the Godavari Valley Coal Field (GVCF) to SCCL.
Congress was in power when the Bill to auction coal blocks was introduced: Vinod Kumar
Former State Planning Board vice-chairman B Vinod Kumar corrected Revanth and Bhatti, saying that it was during the UPA regime in 2011, when the Bill to auction coal blocks was introduced, only to be enacted into a legislation by the NDA.
Advising Revanth and Bhatti to speak facts, Vinod Kumar said that as per Section 17 of the amended Act, the Centre could allocate coal mines to States without going for an auction.
Demanding both of them to withdraw their statements on BRS supporting NDA during the passage of the Bill to auction coal blocks, Vinod Kumar questioned whether Congress helped 8 BJP MLAs win the Lok Sabha elections to auction coal blocks.
Will speak with Modi on coal blocks’ auction: Kishan Reddy
While they were at it, Kishan Reddy, during the launch of the open auction on Friday, assured that he will speak with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the auction of coal blocks, and will certainly communicate all the issues raised by Bhatti Vikramarka with the prime minister.
He explained that it is not the Centre which will claim the revenues through auction of coal blocks, but that it is the States that will financially be benefited.
Assuring that the Singareni workers were not going to be adversely affected by the coal block auction, he said that he will do everything in his power to protect and develop SCCL. He noted that the auction was being done as per the Supreme Court’s directions.
“The issue of Naini Block coal block in Odisha has been lying paused since 2015 ever since it was auctioned. Now BJP is in power in Odisha, so we shouldn’t have a problem in working out a solution to that coal block allocation,” he said.
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