BRS chief T Harish Rao accused the Congress authorities of manipulating Singareni tender norms to learn choose contractors, named the Chief Minister’s kin as beneficiaries and demanded cancellation of tenders and a judicial or CBI inquiry into the alleged rip-off
Published Date – 25 January 2026, 04:14 PM
Hyderabad: Reiterating his demand for cancellation of the Singareni contracts and conduct of an in-depth investigation into the multi-crore rip-off, BRS deputy flooring chief T Harish Rao charged the Congress authorities with systematically altering long-standing tender norms. Instead of taking corrective measures, he ridiculed the Congress authorities’s makes an attempt guilty the earlier BRS regime and mislead the individuals.
He straight named Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his brother-in-law Srujan Reddy as key beneficiaries of the allegedly manipulated tender course of in Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL).
Rebutting allegations made by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Harish Rao accused the federal government of systematically altering long-standing tender norms for overburden (OB) removing works to favour choose contractors. He asserted that the newly launched ‘site visit confirmation certificate’ situation was selectively enforced to limit competitors and channel contracts to companies linked to the Chief Minister’s household.
“If the Chief Minister himself is the mastermind, what does Bhatti Vikramarka want to achieve by consulting him before ordering a probe into irregularities?” Harish Rao requested, dismissing Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka’s latest claims to seek the advice of the Chief Minister and look into the alleged irregularities. He criticised Bhatti Vikramarka for evading solutions on who was answerable for altering norms, who benefited from it and the losses incurred by SCCL attributable to it.
“Instead, he went beating around the bush to blame the previous BRS government with irrelevant documents to mislead people,” he stated.
Pointing to the contentious web site go to certification cited by Bhatti Vikramarka and attributed to the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), the BRS deputy flooring chief stated the technical situation was traditionally relevant solely to specialised Design, Supply, Erection and Commissioning (DSEC) works in confined industrial settings, however to not large-scale overburden (OB) removing contracts in open forged mines.
He stated between 2018 and 2024, lots of of OB tenders had been processed with out such a clause. However, after the Congress authorities took workplace, the situation was launched in 2025 for choose tenders. According to him, this modification decreased bidder participation and led to contracts being awarded at charges greater than departmental estimates.
“The Chief Minister’s brother-in-law is the first direct beneficiary of this norm,” he added.
Harish Rao cited the Bhupalpally tender awarded in January 2025 at 7 per cent under the estimated value and not using a web site go to clause, and contrasted it with later tenders the place the clause was imposed, allegedly pushing charges upward. He acknowledged that regardless of contractors visiting the location, the officers involved issued certificates solely within the last hours earlier than the deadline, stopping them from bidding.
“These rules were twisted to eliminate experienced local contractors and benefit chosen companies,” he alleged. Stating that a few of these contractors had additionally lodged complaints, he demanded disclosure of all correspondence and inner minutes on this regard. Unless the federal government comes out clear, he warned of exposing all emails together with images of secret conferences involving these in energy to learn particular contractors.
The former Minister additionally accused the Congress authorities of economic mismanagement inside SCCL. He stated Singareni earned income of practically Rs 6,900 crore, however solely a fraction was formally mirrored, alleging employee bonuses had been curtailed whereas funds had been diverted for political publicity and extravaganzas just like the Chief Minister’s soccer match with Lionel Messi.
He linked falling coal manufacturing to the sidelining of skilled contractors. Quoting inner coal manufacturing figures, he stated output had dipped from 70 million tonnes in 2023 to 69 million tonnes in 2024-25 and to a mere 43 million tonnes in 10 months of the present 2025-26, after the change in authorities.
The BRS chief additionally charged the federal government with weakening employee welfare programs, together with delays in medical board assessments that allow dependent employment, which was a long-standing coverage in SCCL.
Harish Rao demanded cancellation of all OB and associated tenders processed below the revised norms and known as for an inquiry by a sitting High Court choose or the CBI. He additionally sought a white paper detailing the tender modifications, contractor complaints and the decision-making course of. He questioned the silence of BJP leaders and the Union authorities over what he described as an enormous rip-off and irregularities.
