Dismissing claims that the BJP was attempting to persuade Telangana legislators from the ruling TRS to join its ranks, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Thursday demanded an inquiry by CBI or a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the matter.
Addressing the media in response to TRS allegations that the BJP was using devious tactics to win over legislators and undermine the state government, Reddy claimed that the impending loss in the Munugode byelection is haunting the "Kalvakuntla family" (the family of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao).
Reddy also called it a "huge conspiracy" by the TRS party and claimed that they were playing this "new game" as their defeat is certain Munugode by-election.
“If the TRS government has a purity of mind, I request that the case be handed over to the CBI. I am asking whether the state government is ready for this. I am giving two options. Either you get it inquired by a Supreme Court sitting judge or hand it over to the CBI as this case is an interstate issue," the minister added.
He also claimed that the script, direction and actors in the whole episode have been supplied by Pragathi Bhavan, the CM’s official residence and camp office. Reddy wondered why details such as the quantum of cash found at the scene, its source and who gave it, has not been revealed so far.
The Union Minister ridiculed that the four MLAs were worth Rs 400 crore and sought to know what the BJP would stand to gain if those legislators joined it.
State BJP General Secretary, G Premender Reddy said in a release that his party would move the court seeking a CBI probe or a judicial inquiry into the issue and that the BJP has also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission.
Meanwhile, TRS Working President K T Rama Rao, in a tweet, appealed to his party leaders not to make any comments in the media as the police case is in the preliminary stage of the investigation.
The Cyberabad police detained three people and registered an FIR against them alleging that they tried to coax four TRS legislators into defecting the party.
As per the FIR copy, Rohith Reddy, one of the four TRS MLAs alleged that the accused offered him Rs 100 crore and in return, the legislator has to leave TRS and contest as a BJP candidate in the next Assembly elections.
(With PTI inputs)
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