Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, along with Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy, met Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi on Monday and discussed issues relating to a loan from the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) for the Hyderabad Metro Rail project.
According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) on Monday night, the discussions were positive. Speaking to the media after the meeting, the Chief Minister described the talks with the Railway Minister as constructive. He also announced that he would meet Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday morning for further discussions on the issue.
Revanth Reddy's meeting with Ashwini Vaishnaw, in the presence of Kishan Reddy, came a week after the Chief Minister demanded that the Centre release, without further delay, Rs 13,600 crore towards term loan refinancing for Hyderabad Metro Rail Phase I, which was acquired by the state government from Larsen & Toubro Limited.
The Chief Minister had also sought clarity from the Centre on whether it would participate in Phase II of the Hyderabad Metro project. He had appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Kishan Reddy and MP Etala Rajender to intervene and ensure that Telangana receives what he described as its rightful share of funds.
According to Revanth Reddy, a loan of Rs 13,600 crore was secured from a Japanese entity at an interest rate of 4 per cent and needs to be transferred to the state government through the IRFC. He had claimed that a Japanese agency had already released funds to the IRFC, but that the corporation had not transferred them to the state government.
"We even submitted a letter securing the Reserve Bank's approval, yet the loan transfer was blocked," he had said, alleging that Kishan Reddy was responsible for delaying the release of funds. The Chief Minister had also claimed that Kishan Reddy met Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar on May 20 and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on May 21, urging them not to release the funds as it would harm the BJP's interests in Telangana.
"That is precisely why we are questioning Kishan Reddy. Will you take the responsibility of releasing Rs 13,600 crore today to Telangana or not?" he had asked. A day after the Chief Minister's press conference, Kishan Reddy accused Revanth Reddy of running a false campaign against him.
Rejecting the allegations that he had stalled the Centre's approval for Phase II of the Hyderabad Metro project and blocked funds required for the state's takeover of Phase I from L&T, Kishan Reddy claimed that, like the previous BRS government, the present Congress government was not committed to the project.
The Union Minister stated that the Detailed Project Report (DPR), along with the technical and financial feasibility reports for Phase II, had not yet been completed.