Harish Rao challenges Revanth to judicial probe into 22-A land row

BRS Legislature Party deputy leader T Harish Rao on Wednesday challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to order an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court or High Court judge into the Bhu Bharati and 22-A land controversies, including alleged irregularities over the past three years. He said the BRS was ready to face scrutiny of its government and demanded that the same yardstick be applied to the Congress government.

In a point-by-point rebuttal to the Chief Minister’s allegations, Harish Rao said Revanth Reddy had effectively admitted the BRS’s allegations by acknowledging that entire survey numbers had been uploaded to the prohibited list. He questioned why no action had been taken against officials responsible for the alleged errors and demanded a white paper detailing the extent of land added to and removed from the 22-A list after December 7, 2023. Harish Rao has previously made a similar demand for district-wise details of additions and removals from the prohibited list.

He pointed to an alleged contradiction



between Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy’s claim that no acre was added to the prohibited list after the Congress came to power and the Chief Minister’s statement that officials had uploaded a 1999 prohibited lands list covering around 3.71 lakh acres in haste, affecting nearly 30 lakh acres.

The BRS leader said Revanth Reddy had offered to constitute committees and issue new guidelines, but argued that these measures would not by themselves resolve the problem. “Revanth Reddy made a promise, but did not give any immediate relief to the 22-A victims,” he said. He questioned why affected people were being forced to approach officials for relief despite being legal owners.

Harish Rao rejected the Chief Minister’s argument that the previous BRS government was responsible for the 22-A issue. He challenged the Chief Minister and Ministers to visit any area in and around Hyderabad and interact with people who, he claimed, were facing problems with land registrations that they had not faced during the BRS regime.