T. Harish Rao
| Photo Credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR
BRS Legislature Party Deputy Floor Leader T. Harish Rao said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had admitted to several concerns raised by the BRS over the Section 22-A issue and demanded an explanation for how so many families were affected.
He also demanded that the State government release a White Paper on the Section 22-A prohibited properties issue from December 7, 2023, detailing the extent of land and the number of properties added to and subsequently removed from the list, besides seeking a judicial probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge into the issue and alleged irregularities in the implementation of Bhu Bharati.
Addressing a media conference at Telangana Bhavan, Mr. Harish Rao said, “The Chief Minister admitted that the extent of land on the prohibited list had increased from around 3.71 lakh acres to nearly 30 lakh acres.” He also demanded the immediate removal of properties wrongly included in the 22-A list, saying that merely constituting committees and issuing guidelines would not resolve the problem.
The former Minister alleged that more than 9,200 land registrations under Bhu Bharati had taken place without the knowledge of the actual owners. He defended the BRS government’s record on land-related issues.
BRS ready for detailed inquiry
On the Chief Minister’s announcement of an SIT probe into lands owned by former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, his family members and close relatives, Mr. Harish Rao said the BRS was ready for a detailed inquiry into land and property transactions.
“Mr. Revanth Reddy had earlier claimed that Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao owned a 1,000-acre farmhouse but was now putting the extent at 67 acres,” he said. He alleged that documents available with the BRS showed that the Chief Minister, his son and his brothers together owned 308 acres.
Referring to the lands owned by him, Mr. Harish Rao said, “Documents relating to my agricultural lands are clearly disclosed in my election affidavit and income-tax returns. I do not have even a single extra gunta of land. In fact, officials who surveyed my land found that there were two guntas less.”
He rejected allegations concerning his relatives’ purchase of company shares. “We have declared our assets in our election affidavits. Every transaction is accounted for. If the government has doubts, let there be an independent investigation,” he said.
Claiming that villagers had said the Revanth family owned about 300 acres in Kotra village alone, Mr. Harish Rao said the BRS had documents relating to 175 acres. He further alleged that the family owned another 77 acres in Kondareddypalli and 54 acres as disclosed in an affidavit. He demanded that the Chief Minister explain the alleged total landholding of 308 acres.
The BRS leader said his party had nothing to hide and was prepared to face any independent investigation into the allegations raised against its leaders.
Several other BRS leaders, including MLAs G. Jagadish Reddy and Vemula Prashanth Reddy and MLC Naveen Rao, accused Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of making ‘blatant lies’ on the floor of the Assembly about the lands owned by Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao and his relatives.
Published – September 16, 2026 09:32 pm IST
