Telangana minister K T Rama Rao today refuted the Congress charges that the TRS government had shown "undue favours" to an NGO run by the family of NDA vice-presidential candidate M Venkaiah Naidu and asked the opposition party to provide evidence to back its claims.
There was no abnormality in giving exemption to the Swarna Bharat Trust, the NGO run by Naidu's daughter, on some of the developmental charges, he said, rejecting charges of showing "undue favours" to the organisation.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had yesterday alleged that on June 20, 2017, the Telangana government issued a "secret order" exempting the NGO from paying development charges of more than Rs 2 crore to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.
The industries and IT minister also rejected Ramesh's claim that the TRS government purchased Toyota Innova vehicles worth over Rs 270 crore from dealerships owned by himself and Naidu's son.
"The Telangana government did not place orders directly to the dealers for purchasing vehicles. The orders were placed with the company after following the due process. The rates of the vehicles were finalised as per the guidelines set by the Centre," he told reporters.
"It is quite common for NGOs, religious trusts, educational institutions, hospitals and private institutions to get property tax exemption. It was practiced during your (the Congress) rule also. There is nothing extraordinary in giving exemption to the Swarna Bharat Trust," he said.
"Mr Jairam Ramesh, if you have any common sense, provide proof and then talk or else withdraw your remarks. Do not resort to mudslinging," said the son of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
The Congress leader had yesterday alleged that in July 2014, the Telangana government placed an order of Rs 271 crore without inviting tenders for purchase of vehicles for the police from two car dealers - Harsha Toyota, owned by Naidu's son, and Himanshu Motors, owned by Rama Rao.
To another question, Rao said the TRS government has brought transparency in sand sales and this has boosted revenue by 30 to 40 times.
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