Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy expressed his unhappiness over the ‘political statement’ of an Larsen and Toubro (L&T) official on the free bus scheme. The minister sent a strong message to L&T, the operators of the Hyderabad Metro Rail, that they can choose to exit if they wish to and the government is ready to take over the operation. 

L&T operates the Hyderabad Metro Rail which was built in public-private partnership mode. Revanth Reddy made this statement when reacting to the reports that L&T was contemplating its exit from the Metro Rail operations. They stated their reason for the exit was that the women opting to travel in RTC buses instead of Metro rails after the State government introduced free bus ride scheme for women. 

Reacting to the statement, Revanth Reddy said that he is not concerned with the business of L&T and how they operate since the government does not function for corporates. He also added that the government is interested in operating it. There is nothing much to worry about since it was his argument and Government works for the people, he said. 

The controversy erupted when R Shankar Raman, Chief Financial Officer told a business channel that the Metro Rail got affected due to government”s scheme. Though he does not indicate directly that they would prefer to sell the stake, he said that disinvestment may happen in the Metro Rail. 

As per the sources, the Chief minister was unhappy that the scheme was criticised by the L&T and he saw it as an interference of the business group into state policies. He was not pleased by the comments of the L&T. The Mahalakshmi bus service scheme was introduced by the Congress party as poll promise before the Telangana Assembly elections. However, what angered him the most is the political comments on the free bus scheme and its sustainability linking it with Metro Rail Operation.