K Chandrasekhar Rao faces Medigadda barrage probe: First ex-CM to depose before judicial commission; in-camera hearing held due to health

HYDERABAD: BRS president and ex-CM K Chandrasekhar Rao appeared before Justice (Retd) Pinaki Chandra Ghose's one-man commission of inquiry on Wednesday. The commission summoned him as part of the ongoing probe into the sinking of some piers of Block 7 of Medigadda and damages in Annaram and Sundilla barrages, part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).KCR is the first ex-CM to appear before any judicial commission of inquiry both in Telangana and in erstwhile AP. He was asked to depose before the commission as the Kaleshwaram project was constructed during the BRS rule and KCR was CM.The commission allowed an in-camera examination of KCR as he said he was unwell and didn’t want people around him. PC Ghose accepted his request and conducted the in-camera hearing.The commission reportedly asked him about issues such as the shifting of the Kaleshwaram project's main source from Thummdihatti to Medigadda, cabinet approvals for every decision taken by the govt pertaining to Kaleshwaram, storing the water to the full capacity of barrages and other issues. Judge Ghose also asked him about floating a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Corporation, to raise loans for the project, etc.Meanwhile, hundreds of BRS leaders and party workers came to BRKR Bhavan, where the commission’s office is located. Former ministers T Harish Rao, Vemula Prashant Reddy, Mohd Mahmood Ali, MPs Vaddiraju Ravichandra, Joginapally Santosh Kumar, and others accompanied KCR to the commission.