Letter to CBI on Kaleshwaram probe in a day or two probe: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said on Monday (September 1, 2025) that the letter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking it to investigate into the findings of the Justice P.C. Ghose Commission of Inquiry on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, will be written in a day or two.

When asked if the move amounted to shifting responsibility to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) court, Mr. Reddy clarified that there was nothing political about the decision. “We are writing to a central agency, not to the BJP. If State agencies were to handle this, accusations of bias would be inevitable,” he remarked.

The Commission’s report was placed in the Assembly on Sunday. The Chief Minister announced in the night — after a marathon discussion for nearly 10 hours in the Assembly — that the government would hand over the investigation to the CBI.

The Chief Minister said that the project’s vast scope, involving multiple national-level agencies in matters of permissions, finances, and execution, necessitated the involvement of the central investigative body. “Let the CBI investigate, given the magnitude and scope of the case, and this will also clear the accusations of bias that are bound to be levelled,” he said.

According to him, the process is underway, and the officials will take care of the procedures to be followed in seeking an investigation.

The matter was discussed extensively in the Assembly before arriving at the decision. Legislators from different political parties stressed that action must be taken against those responsible for wasting “thousands of crores of public money without any accountability.”

The government maintained that the CBI probe would ensure impartiality and restore public confidence in addressing one of the biggest infrastructure controversies in recent years. Moreover, the allegations are against a former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.