A day after the police booked three men for allegedly trying to bribe a few Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislators to switch over to the BJP, the TRS has shared two audio clips of a phone call conversation purportedly between MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy and the accused Nanda Kumar and Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma. Sharing the audio conversation, the TRS wrote, “This is just a trailer … Going forward, we will reveal more of BJP’s dirty politics.” The first audio conversation mentions someone named Santhosh and someone referred to as Number 2. The second conversation mentions Home Minister Amit Shah.
The political drama intensified in Telangana after the Cyberabad police raided a farmhouse on the outskirts of Hyderabad on the night of Wednesday, October 26, where they said they found the three accused, allegedly associated with the BJP, trying to poach four TRS MLAs. The MLAs were allegedly offered Rs 50 crore to 100 crore each, apart from important positions and contracts, in exchange for switching parties.
The three accused – Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma from Delhi, Nanda Kumar from Hyderabad and Simhayaji Swamy from Tirupati – were booked for bribery, criminal conspiracy and other charges, based on a complaint from Tandur MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy. The TRS shared a 14-minute-long group-phone call conversation in two parts, which purportedly took place between the MLA and the accused Ramachandra Bharati and Nanda Kumar.
ఎమ్మెల్యేల కొనుగోలు వ్యవహారంలో బయటపడ్డ బీజేపీ బేరసారాల బాగోతం..
— TRS Party (@trspartyonline) October 28, 2022
ఇది కేవలం ట్రైలర్ మాత్రమే... ముందు ముందు మరింత బయటకి రానున్న బీజేపీ నీచ రాజకీయాల బాగోతం.#TelanganaNotForSale
Part - 1 pic.twitter.com/r32RzQkxgl
ఎమ్మెల్యేల కొనుగోలు వ్యవహారంలో బయటపడ్డ బీజేపీ బేరసారాల బాగోతం..
— TRS Party (@trspartyonline) October 28, 2022
ఇది కేవలం ట్రైలర్ మాత్రమే... ముందు ముందు మరింత బయటకి రానున్న బీజేపీ నీచ రాజకీయాల బాగోతం.#TelanganaNotForSale
Part - 2 pic.twitter.com/lwwjQKb3Le
In the conversation, a man addressed as ‘Swamiji’, who is alleged to be Ramachandra Bharati, is heard planning a meeting with another man, who is purported to be MLA Rohith Reddy. The conversation seems to have happened prior to October 24 as the person who is being identified by the TRS as Ramachandra is heard complaining about his health and that he cannot visit Hyderabad until October 24, as he is on bed rest.
They decide to meet in Hyderabad, and Swami is heard saying he cannot make it till October 24 as he has been advised bed rest. They agree to meet after October 25, as there was a solar eclipse on that day.
The Swami is heard urging the MLA to gather more people, and the MLA is heard saying, “Three are ready including me.” When Swami asks the MLA to share names, he says that would be difficult and it would be better to meet in person. Another person joins the conversation and is heard saying they will try to gather more people before their meeting in person.
The MLA cautions against trying to gather more persons, saying that if the word gets out, “We will be literally screwed here. You know about our CM, he is a very aggressive guy, he will screw our happiness.”
The conversation also alludes to someone named Santhosh, which TRS alleges is BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh. Swami says: “I will discuss tomorrow morning with Santhosh. If a bulk (of persons) is ready, then Santhosh will come there.” He says that Santhosh is the organising secretary and key person who takes all the roles to form the government and that every movement is completely organised by BL Santhosh. “Number one and two will come to Santhosh’s house and discuss. That’s the protocol of RSS which he follows. For any decision, even if we meet one and two, the decision has to be taken by Santhosh only. Along with Santhosh, let’s go to number two,” Swami says.
They also frequently refer to ‘Nanduji’, who seems to be part of the phone call and is speculated to be Nanda Kumar, one of the accused. The MLA says: “Nanduji gave me the proposal. He assured me of taking care of me in all ways, in terms of my security, my political career and other things.” In response, Swami says, “The same matter we will present to number two also, in front of you, so there won't be any issues. It’s always first come first serve.”
The MLA then says he is interested and wants to work at a higher level, to which Swami says that it was not suitable to discuss this over the phone. Swami says that if they can move forward before the “third election” – presumably referring to the Munugode bye-poll scheduled for November 3 – then that would result in other things too. “We also need good leaders in our organisation,” Swami says.
Towards the end of the call, when the MLA urges to keep the details of their conversation confidential, saying “otherwise our lives are gone”, Swami assures him saying, “If any little bit of issue is found, we will make it patch up and convert the matter. And we will give complete protection from Centre. It’s our responsibility to take care of you when you are in our scanner. You don't have to worry. Including ED to Income Tax and security reasons also, that is in our scanner. Because we have very good experience in Bengal, so no need to worry.”
Interestingly, it was Rohith Reddy, who seemed to be in constant touch with the three accused, to file a case against them. Cyberabad police commissioner Stephen Ravindra who had participated in the raid said that they were given a tip-off about the horse-trading by the four TRS MLAs – Rega Kantha Rao, Guvvala Balaraju, Beeram Harshvardhan Reddy and Pilot Rohith Reddy.
On Friday, the Cyberabad police approached the Telangana High Court challenging the order of a lower court refusing the remand of three accused arrested in the case. The police challenged the judgment of the ACB Court judge, who ordered the release of all three accused. The judge had rejected the police petition for sending the accused to judicial custody, citing a lack of evidence. He observed that the Prevention of Corruption Act does not apply to the case as there is no evidence of bribe money.
Later on Friday, TRS shared another longer audio clip, this one 30 minutes long and purported to be of a conversation among some of the accused. In this clip, the same Swami from the previous (presumed to be Ramachandra Bharati) is heard talking to other persons, including an unidentified person (X). In this call, it is discussed that Pilot Rohith Reddy had demanded Rs 100 crore, while the other MLAs would get a smaller amount of around Rs 50 crore. The recent shift of four leaders from BJP to TRS is discussed, and X says he is going to talk to Chevella, Parigi, Kodangal MLAs apart from Tandur MLA Rohith Reddy.
Swami is heard insisting on the other MLAs’ names, and he says, “We need names to finalise … so Santhosh can also talk and set it up. Once entry is done, it has to be lined up till Amit Shah. So names are important.” The other person says that the MLAs have asked to meet and receive assurances from higher-ups before revealing names. Swamy then declares that he and a man named Tushar (whom he calls ‘the man of Number 1 and 2’) would go to Hyderabad on 26, meet the MLAs, and if things work out, take a chartered plane to Delhi on 27 morning to meet BL Santhosh and Amit Shah. Incidentally, the police raids on the farmhouse happened on October 26.
Swami and another person also discuss that the state-level leaders are unaware of the developments. “What we are doing in Delhi, state shouldn’t get to know,” the person says, and Swami replies, “Yes … we bypass the state and directly handle centre.” He also says that the final commitment is done by certain people they are going to meet, and not by Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar or Union Minister G Kishan Reddy. “You need to understand whom we are sitting with, we don’t sit for small things. The commitment has to be done by them, and it is final, they don’t discuss small issues,” Swami says.
While Swami claims he was told by Amit Shah not to travel to Hyderabad to deal with just one MLA, X tells him that the MLAs travelling to Delhi can “spoil the secret mission”. "Otherwise, they’re happy to fly there. [But] at a time three or four people are travelling, and intelligence is watching,” he says.
While Swami insists on the names of the other three MLAs other than Rohith Reddy, X offers to bring in former MLAs, MLCs, union ministers and MPs. “These three or four are there. And if you want ex-MLC/MLA, I can arrange four or five people, so totally ten I’ll give you,” X says. To this, Swami says that sitting legislators are the priority and former legislators can be considered later.