Friends of Congress USA: CM Revanth signing MoUs with personal interest

Hyderabad: A facebook page that goes on the name of Friends of Congress USA having around 4,800 followers have dashed an open letter to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi appealing him to take a note of the MoUs and investments being made by Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy during his ongoing visit to the United States of America (US).

The visit of chief minister A Revanth Reddy, Minister for IT and Commerce D Sreedhar Babu and contingents of officers to the US and South Korea is embroiled into controversy over MOUs being signed with companies without due diligence. The BRS has raised an alarm that the Telangana Government has signed an MoU with a company by name Swachh Bio for Rs 1,000 crore investment in the state, however the company belongs to CM’s brother Anumula Jagadeeshwar Reddy.

While another company brought on board to bring investments in the state, has no digital footprints raising a red flag about the credibility of the company. The visit to the US and South Korea has only sparked controversies.

‘Sack Jayesh Ranjan’

The representatives further said that they had appealed to the State government numerous times to sack IT secretary, Jayesh Ranjan, who had been part of the previous BRS government. Moreover, there are a lot of allegations about him regarding the new Secretariat which surfaced not long ago but fell on deaf ears by the Telangana government.

The MOUs are usually signed off by the IT minister and seldom the chief minister of the State is involved. But now the CM of Telangana, on taxpayers’ money with his entourage, has been visiting the USA accompanied by his close NRIs belonging to his erstwhile TDP and now the BJP, coverts in the Congress groups, which is alarming, the representatives added.

Appeal to ED to look into MoUs

“We appeal to you to take into account all MoUs and make sure there is no family involvement. We will also soon appeal to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to look into these MOUs and see if there is no quid pro quo involved. We hope that IT minister Sridhar Babu will be careful in avoiding any involvement in any MoUs without proper research as his credibility will be at stake and hope he will initiate steps to make all MoUs transparent and in the public domain,” the representatives said.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, along with IT minister Sridhar Babu and other Cabinet ministers, have embarked on a second round of international tour for investments in Telangana ending August 11th.

The first visit was made to Davos in Switzerland and the United States of America in January 2024 after Revanth Reddy became the chief minister.

Second trip starts in Seoul

The second international visit itinerary included Seoul in South Korea and USA cities New Jersey, New York and Dallas.

Apart from Information Technology, investments are planned for developments in electric vehicles, life sciences and healthcare in Telangana.

Artificial Intelligence is also on the list of priorities of the Telangana government, a source explained. A global AI summit will be organised by the Telangana government in September and maximum resources are being polled for that venture.

Political impact at home from international trips

Politically, there is a lot of discussion as to how CM Revanth Reddy is leading the delegations and its impact on the political atmosphere in the State.

Political pundits question whether there is a comparison being made between the workings of former Bharat Rashtra Samithi IT minister KT Rama Rao and the trips by the Congress.

A source said, “The presence of the chief minister of the State enhances the confidence of the investors and shows them the party’s dedication to progress. It also becomes easy to make immediate decisions.”