Revanth Reddy's relative sends legal notice to KTR over 'false' tender claims

Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader and Telangana MLA KT Rama Rao has been sued for defamation for claiming that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's relative Soodhini Srujan Reddy's firm was 'unfairly' awarded a construction contract by the Telangana government.

Srujan Reddy's team on Thursday served a legal notice to KT Rama Rao, accusing him of making false, malicious, politically-motivated, and vindictive statements against the former on social media and in the press 'without any basis or substantiation'.

KTR, last week, claimed that Soodhini Srujan Reddy's company, Shodha Constructions, had been given a contract amounting to Rs 1,137 crores under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme.

The BRS leader, in a post on X, also claimed that contracts were awarded to Chief Minister's relative Srujan Reddy’s company despite not having the requisite qualifications.

"The total volume of the work in public health engineering is Rs 8,888 crores but the work that has been allotted to Soodhini Srujan Reddy's company Shodha Constructions is Rs 1,137 crores. The most important fact here is that the company does not have any requisite qualifications, it operates with Rs 2 crores of net profit last year. This is a scam", KT Rama Rao had said.

Contesting KTR's claims, Gautam Khazanchi, Srujan Reddy's counsel, demanded that KTR should immediately remove the statement from all platforms, desist from making such 'unfounded' remarks and also tender an unconditional apology to his client.

Khazanchi went ahead and said that while his client had a Master of Science (M.Sc) degree from a reputed US university, Shodha Constructions, which



is run by his family and not himself, has expertise in tunnel excavation and other infrastructure-related activities.

"Over the years, it has successfully grown in terms of revenue, net worth, and technical know-how", the legal notice said.

Going ahead with adding more substance to Reddy's stand, the notice further added that Shodha Constructions collaborated with AMR India Pvt. Ltd ("AMR India") and IHP Limited ('IHP') and said that it had only 29 per cent share in the joint-venture.

Khazanchi said that Shodha Constructions was only eligible to receive contracts corresponding to its share in the joint-venture, and lashed out at the Telangana MLA for "wilfully concealing these facts with an intention to cause reputational damage to Reddy".

KT Rama Rao had accused Revanth Reddy of a scam last week, saying that no family member of a Chief Minister shall participate in any government work, referring to the alleged contract given to Srujan Reddy's company.

In his post on X, KTR said that "I demand an inquiry to uncover the truth about the affairs of the Chief Minister's family, who secured contracts worth thousands of crores of rupees. The state government is suppressing information about these tenders awarded in the last few months".

The former Telangana minister also appealed to the Union government to investigate and disclose the details of the companies that were awarded tenders under the AMRUT scheme.

Meanwhile, Surjan Reddy's legal team has requested that KTR should comply with their demands of removing the statement and tender an apology within 24 hours of receiving the notice, warning him of further legal proceedings.