Telangana CM KCR releases videos alleging BJP tried to poach TRS MLAs

Telangana CM KCR released a series of videos to back his party`s claim that the BJP tried to bribe four TRS MLAs.

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) on Thursday called an unexpected news conference where he released a series of videos of alleged BJP people purportedly bribing four TRS MLAs. KCR said the videos back his party's claim that the BJP tried to bribe four TRS MLAs. A row was triggered in Telangana last week, after four TRS MLAs Rega Kantha Rao, Guvvala Balaraju, Beeram Harshvardhan Reddy and Pilot Rohit Reddy said that the BJP tried to lure them to switch loyalties. KCR attacked PM Narendra Modi and Home minister Amit Shah alleging that the saffron party was trying to pull down the TRS government by luring its MLAs with offers of money and posts.

Meanwhile, the BJP has denied the allegations and called it a drama scripted by KCR. Rejecting the charge that his party was trying to poach Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs, Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Bandi Sanjay said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has scripted the raids at a farmhouse and demanded a probe by a sitting judge.

The Cyberabad police last week conducted raids at a farmhouse in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, and detained three people for allegedly attempting to poach MLAs of the TRS with the promise of huge amounts of money.

Following a complaint of TRS MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy on Wednesday, an FIR was registered at the Moinabad Police Station under Sections 120-B, 171-B r/w 171-E 506 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act-1988. The three accused have been identified as Ramachandra Bharati, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy.

In the FIR, Reddy alleged that Ramachandra Bharati who came to Hyderbad from Delhi and Nanda Kumar of Hyderabad, both belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party had met him and offered him Rs 100 crore to join the BJP.

According to the FIR, MLA Rohith Reddy also alleged that they were threatened that criminal cases will be foisted against him and raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) if they did not join the BJP.