Irrigation projects: Telangana minister joins issue with Rahul

Hours after Congress president Rahul Gandhi hit out at the Telangana government on "redesigning" of projects, a state minister said expenditure of irrigation projects had gone up owing to the Land Acquisition Bill brought by the UPA government.

Addressingpublic meetings at Bhainsa and Kamareddy in Telangana, Gandhi alleged that Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (popularly known as KCR) was indulging in corruption in the name of redesigning of irrigation projects.

He said the Kaleshwaram Project cost was increased to Rs one lakh crore from the earlier estimation of Rs 38,000 crore.

Gandhi also alleged that the KCR government insulted B R Ambedkar by changing the name of a project named after him.

"It was congress which neglected Ambedkar. He got Bharat Ratna during V P Singh period, not in congress rule.

He talks about the cost escalation of Kaleshwaram project. The cost has gone up as land acquisition cost has gone up due to the Bill," Minister for IT and Industries K T Rama Rao told reporters.

The congress leader should know the facts before making allegations, he said.

The minister wanted to know from Rahul Gandhi whether his party apologised to the nation for the "massacre of Sikhs" in 1984 following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.