The election flying squad and police raided the residence of Madhu Yaskhi Goud, the Congress candidate for LB Nagar, located in the Hayat Nagar area of Hyderabad. The police raided the senior leader’s house at midnight on Tuesday, claiming the action followed a complaint that Madhu Yaskhi was hoarding a substantial amount of cash in his house.
Madhu Yaskhi denied the accusations, alleging that the police action was politically motivated and had been carried out under the pressure of sitting MLA Sudhir Reddy of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi who is contesting again from the LB Nagar Constituency.
According to reports, Madhu Yaskhi stated that he would file a complaint with the Election Commission against the police, and charged that the searches were conducted without a proper warrant. In addition, he alleged that the police intimidated his family and party workers.
Tensions escalated as the supporters of Madhu Yaskhi gathered at the place, denouncing the midnight search.
Meanwhile, the I-T department has also been active, conducting raids of its own. In a recent search operation on Monday, residences of Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy's relatives were raided in Hyderabad. Last week, raids were carried out at residences of congress candidates Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and senior leader Thummala Nageswara Rao, in Khammam district. After being suspended, the two former BRS leaders had crossed over to the Congress some time ago.
Telangana will hold elections on November 30 and announce the results on December 3. For the 119 seats, a total of 4,798 candidates have submitted their nominations.