In the run-up to the Munugode bye-poll in Telangana, the political drama intensified on Wednesday, October 26, after the Cyberabad police caught three persons alleged to be from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who were allegedly trying to poach four MLAs from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The incident has triggered a political slugfest in the state, with the TRS levelling allegations that the accused are close with BJP top brass, and the BJP refuting all such allegations. Here are the key developments in the case so far:
On Wednesday night, the Cyberabad police conducted a raid at a farmhouse in Aziz Nagar on Hyderabad outskirts, where they say that they found three men allegedly associated with the BJP trying to poach four TRS MLAs. According to the police, the four MLAs were allegedly offered Rs 50 to 100 crore each, apart from contracts running into crores of rupees, in exchange for switching parties. The raid was conducted following a tip-off by TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy, the police said.
The police registered a First information Report (FIR) against the three accused based on Pilot Rohith Reddy’s complaint. The three men were identified as Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma from Delhi, Nanda Kumar from Hyderabad and Simhayaji Swamy from Tirupati. They have been booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 171B (bribery) read with 171E (punishment of bribery), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) read with 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The TRS has alleged that the three men who were arrested are close to several influential BJP leaders. TRS leader Krishank Manne shared photographs of the accused with Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, G Kishan Reddy and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on his Twitter account, alleging that the accused were associated with the BJP. Y Sathish Reddy, a TRS leader, also alleged that the accused were agents of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Several TRS leaders, including ministers Gangula Kamalakar and Indrakaran Reddy, staged a dharna at Choutuppal on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway. The protesters raised slogans against the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They alleged that the saffron party was trying to pull down the TRS government by luring its MLAs with offers of money and posts.
You can understand what BJP tried and failed to do in Telangana with KCR ji's MLA's#TelanganaNotForSale pic.twitter.com/vk5L54la8z
— krishanKTRS (@krishanKTRS) October 27, 2022
Meanwhile, Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao has appealed to party leaders not to make comments regarding the alleged poaching to the media. "The thieves who were caught red-handed will keep barking as they wish. Party members need not pay attention to them," he said in a tweet.
The BJP has rubbished the allegations of horse-trading, with BJP Telangana president Bandi Sanjay pointing out that the accused appear in photos not just with BJP leaders, but a few TRS leaders as well. BJP national vice-president DK Aruna said that the men named by the police were not BJP members. She alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was staging a new drama for political mileage. She said people would not believe KCR's story.
The BJP on Thursday approached the Telangana High Court, demanding that a national agency such as the Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the alleged poaching. The petition was filed by BJP state general secretary Gujjula Premendar Reddy, who alleged that the Telangana police were trying to frame the BJP in the investigation, and that the raid at the farmhouse was done at the behest of CM KCR. Union Minister G Kishan Reddy also refuted the poaching allegations, and demanded that an independent probe be conducted by the CBI or a sitting Supreme Court judge.