The announcement of the Andhra Pradesh Government of awarding the Hyderabad Metro Rail project to the Maytas group, on the public-private partnership (PPP) model, started a series of attacks by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chief Sreedharan, who raised questions on the credibility of the project by writing an open letter opposing the Planning Commission's allegation against him for casting aspersions on the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project.

The AP Government in turn asked for an unconditional apology and also removed the DMRC as the Prime Consultant for the Hyderabad Metro Rail.

However, Sreedharan added more fuel to the fire by writing a letter to the media, stating that the AP government had turned the project into a scandalous deal.

Sreedharan added "What I had mentioned in my letter to the Planning Commission was that the alterations to the Detailed Project Report (DPR) which benefited a particular party may lead to a political scandal later. We have seen in this country, whenever there is a change of government, the next government rakes up many issues pertaining to the previous government's regime. This had happened in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and UP and elsewhere. It might happen in Hyderabad also".

As a result the Finance Minister K Rosaiah said, "The municipal administration secretary had already written to Dr Sreedharan to tender an unconditional apology for the false and baseless allegations made against the project. Since he has failed to do so and continues to make distorted statements and baseless allegations, the government of Andhra Pradesh will now file a defamation suit against him...........There may also be a political motive behind the issue and TDP's role cannot be ruled out".