Hyderabad, July 23 (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday said he has served a legal notice on Telangana Chief Minister, demanding that he tender an unconditional public apology within 48 hours for falsely branding Globe Arena as his ‘benami’ company and making several other baseless allegations.
K.T. Rama Rao strongly condemned the Chief Minister for making what he described as false, malicious and defamatory allegations linking him to the company.
K.T. Rama Rao said the legal notice was issued after the Chief Minister made a series of “irresponsible” statements before the media without producing a shred of evidence.
He asserted that he has no ownership, financial, proprietary or any other relationship whatsoever with Globe Arena Technologies and challenged the Chief Minister to substantiate his allegations with credible evidence.
“The Chief Minister has been asked to prove his allegations within 48 hours. If he fails to do so, he must tender an unconditional public apology. Otherwise, he will face appropriate civil and criminal legal proceedings, including a defamation suit for the irreparable damage caused to my reputation,” K.T. Rama Rao said.
Refuting the allegations, K.T. Rama Rao said the claims that Globe Arena is his ‘benami’ company, that he facilitated CBSE examination contracts for the firm, or that he had any financial interest in the company are completely false, fabricated and politically motivated.
He said it was highly irresponsible for a Chief Minister holding the highest constitutional office in the State to level such serious allegations without any factual basis.
Questioning the Chief Minister’s credibility, he asked, “If Globe Arena is really my benami company, why did the Congress Government itself enter into agreements with that company? Your own government signed contracts with the firm, and today you are claiming that it is my benami company. Does the Chief Minister have any sense of responsibility before making such allegations?”
He also accused Revanth Reddy of deliberately trying to divert public attention from the real issue concerning irregularities in national examinations.
“The responsibility for the NEET examination irregularities lies squarely with the Central Government. Students across the country are demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Yet, the Chief Minister, who should be questioning the Centre, does not even dare to utter the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Instead of protesting before Raj Bhavan or questioning the BJP-led Central Government, he staged a political drama in Kodangal,” K.T. Rama Rao remarked.
Alleging a covert understanding between the Congress and the BJP, K.T. Rama Rao said the Chief Minister was afraid to question Prime Minister Modi because of his political compulsions.
“Revanth Reddy is with the Congress during the day and with the BJP at night. He fears reopening of old cases and is compromising with the Centre to secure benefits through AMRUT and other contracts. That is also why the Centre has remained silent despite our repeated complaints on corruption in Singareni,” K.T. Rama Rao alleged.
Responding to Congress leaders’ demand for an investigation, K.T. Rama Rao said he was prepared to face any probe. “Whether it is the CID, CBI, SIT or any other investigating agency, I am ready to cooperate fully. Let the truth come before the people. At the same time, is the government prepared to order a SIT or CID enquiry into the allegations involving Revanth Reddy’s family, the Srujan Reddy issue, the Singareni scam and the AMRUT contracts?” he asked.
He also threw an open challenge to the Chief Minister for a live lie detector test. “Seat both of us side by side before the people and conduct a live lie detector test. I have absolutely no connection with Globe Arena. Let the truth also come out regarding the allegations surrounding Singareni, the AMRUT contracts and other corruption charges. Let the people decide who is speaking the truth,” he challenged.
He demanded that Chief Minister Reddy immediately withdraw his statements, issue an unconditional public apology within the stipulated 48-hour period, and refrain from repeating such defamatory allegations in future. Failing this, K.T. Rama Rao said he would proceed with civil and criminal legal action, including filing a defamation suit seeking appropriate damages, to protect his reputation and uphold the rule of law.
–IANS
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