The Singareni coal scam has triggered intense heat in Telangana. There is growing discussion among Congress leaders that Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who is part of the Congress government, appears to be as good as booked in this matter. It is well known that a recent “Kotha Paluku” column written by Vemuri Radhakrishna, MD of Andhra Jyothi publications, created political tremors in Telangana last week. In that article, a sensational point was raised stating that Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, along with Mega Engineering chief Megha Krishna Reddy and NTV chairman Narendra Choudary, held a meeting to secure the overburden removal contract at the Naini coal block in Odisha, which belongs to Singareni. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka reacted immediately, stating that the entire allegation was false, and announced that he would later reveal who was behind the Andhra Jyothi report and whose interests it was written for. He also announced the cancellation of the Naini coal block tender.
In reality, if, as the Deputy Chief Minister claimed, there was no wrongdoing or scam in this matter, then issuing site visit certificates to all the companies that conducted site visits should have sufficed. However, his sudden announcement to cancel the tender in haste raised several suspicions. Moreover, even though officials stated that no company had officially submitted tenders yet, Bhatti said in a media conference that he took this step only to avoid any scope for suspicion. As stated earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who handles the Telangana Power and Finance departments, held a media conference on Saturday and expressed hope that Andhra Jyothi would clarify that the report was completely fabricated and false. However, Andhra Jyothi group head Vemuri Radhakrishna, in his article, once again questioned whether it was not true that Bhatti Vikramarka, Megha Krishna Reddy, and NTV owner Narendra Choudary tried to secure the Naini coal block, and whether it was not true that Singareni top officials were called in and discussions were held in their presence. This made it clear that no matter how many statements Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka makes, Andhra Jyothi does not appear to be backing down on this issue at all.
On the other hand, BRS Legislature Party Deputy Leader and former minister Harish Rao also reacted once again on the same issue. He said that Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka claims the site visit condition was not newly introduced by them, but pointed out that there is no such condition anywhere for overburden removal works, and that it was implemented only after the Congress government came to power. He further stated that reputed companies such as NCC and Mahalakshmi, which conducted site visits, had sent emails to Singareni top officials stating that certificates were not being issued to them. He revealed that they even took selfies in front of the Singareni GM office, which was supposed to issue the certificates, and sent those as well to the officials.
Harish Rao said that if the government orders an inquiry, he would expose all these issues with evidence. Looking at all these developments, discussions are reportedly going on even within the Congress party that Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka appears to be as good as booked in this entire episode. Bhatti Vikramarka, who demanded that the Andhra Jyothi management admit its mistake, now faces growing curiosity over what his future course of action will be. There is also discussion among Congress leaders that this issue is unlikely to end here. Meanwhile, with the Centre also stepping into the matter, some leaders are tense about how many twists and turns this issue may take in the coming days.