Hyderabad: aTelangana’s politics heats up after the crucial Munugode assembly bypoll chief, Cyberabad police arrested four Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs for allegedly trying to woo them to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A temple priest and two others were arrested.
It said the ‘BJP agents’ were arrested late Wednesday night from the farmhouse of Pilot Rohit Reddy, one of the four TRS MLAs, on the outskirts of the city.
Police said they conducted the raids following a tip-off from Rohit Reddy, who was a member of fellow MLAs B Harshvardhan Reddy, G. Balraju and Rega were present at the farmhouse with Kantha Rao. It is still unclear whether the police seized cash in the operation.
The First Information Report (FIR) accessed by ThePrint identified the three accused as Ramchandra Bharti alias Satish Sharma of Faridabad, a businessman. nandkumari from Hyderabad and Simhayaji Swami from Tirupati. Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra said Bharti was the priest of the temple in Faridabad.
The trio were charged under IPC sections including criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation, bribery among others as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Hours after the arrest, the video clip of the four MLAs with ‘agents’ at the farmhouse went viral on social media. In the clip, the MLA is seen sipping coffee while sitting on a sofa.
According to the FIR registered on the basis of Rohit Reddy’s complaint, Bharti and Nandakumar, who allegedly belong to the BJP, negotiated with him to join the BJP and contest the next election. For this, the complainant claimed that he was offered Rs 100 crore along with monetary benefits on civil contracts and other central government posts.
“On Wednesday, the MLA was contacted again and told that he [the accused] He was coming for talks at his farmhouse in Moinabad’s Aziz Nagar and asked him to offer a bribe of Rs 50 crore each to some more TRS MLAs to join the BJP. He further induced him and other MLAs to receive the amount and discharge their public duties unfairly and dishonestly, so as to destabilize the Telangana government,” the report said.
It added that the ‘agents’ also threatened the MLAs with ED, CBI cases if they did not join the BJP.
Fueling the controversy, old pictures of Bharti with Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy and Rajnath Singh surfaced on social media.
This was followed by a photograph of Nandakumar with TRS Rajya Sabha MP Santosh Kumar and Telangana Finance Minister T. Harish Rao at another event. Both Santosh Kumar and Harish Rao, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s nephew.
Another set of viral photographs shows Nandakumar with Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay and TRS MLA Harshvardhan Reddy.
This political drama has come at a time when there is a tussle between TRS and BJP. aggressive preparation Both sides have been accusing each other of distributing huge amounts of cash and liquor on November 3 for the Munugode by-election.
Last week, a video in which a BJP leader was heard talking on the phone had gone viral. BJP leaders had claimed that the leader was talking to Telangana IT minister and KCR’s son KT Rama Rao, who was heard seeking the BJP leader’s support in the Munugode bypoll.
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BJP denies Sangh, demands judicial inquiry
Describing it as a cheap political drama, Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay demanded a judicial inquiry. “This is completely a fake play, written by Pragati Bhavan [CMO-cum-residence], We are ready to come to the temple, the police have narrated a laughing drama.
Sanjay also attacked the ruling party for dragging saints and priests to create the scene, calling it an attempt to tarnish the image of Hinduism. The BJP state chief also challenged the chief minister to take oath at the Yadadri temple, saying he was unaware of the line.
On Thursday, Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy described the arrest as “staged” and raised several questions as to why the MLA went to the farmhouse and agreed to meet some agents.
“He invited himself, took pictures, called the police, prepared the script, directed, selected the actors and did the make-up. Everything happened under the supervision of Pragati Bhavan,” said the tourism minister.
The BJP moved the Telangana High Court demanding transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or an independent agency for a fair investigation.
TRS MLA Balka Suman alleged that BJP is resorting to such “cheap tricks” and targeting the party after KCR announced his plan to set up a national party that would fight against the saffron party at the Centre. .
(Edited by Tony Rae)