Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Tuesday refuted charges of involvement of the former transport minister R Ashoka (BJP) in the purchase of defective Tata Marcopolo buses.

Speaking to reporters after an interaction with party workers at the KPCC office, he said  that the decision to purchase the vehicles was taken based on a report by the technical wing. However, an inquiry has been already ordered in this regard, he added.

“The Transport minister is only the chairman of these corporations. She/he will not be the technical expert. Decisions are taken based on reports from experts. So, it is not proper to blame the minister,” he stated and added that the corporations have decided to conduct a trial run for at least three months before purchasing new buses in the future.

Asked about JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy’s charges that the transport corporations have incurred loss to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore during the previous BJP government, Reddy said he will look into it if Kumaraswamy provides documentary proofs in this regard.