Hyderabad: Union Minister and Senior BJP leader G Kishan Reddy on Thursday said that the claim that TRS MLAs were lured by the BJP is ‘fabricated’ by the ruling TRS and should be seen as an attempt to divert people’s attention from the loss that the TRS is going to suffer in the upcoming Munugode bypoll.
The minister questioned the investigation process conducted by the state police and said that the police has not informed whether the money that was said to be found came from the ‘farm house’ or ‘Pragathi Bhavan’.
“I ask that the case be turned over to the CBI if the TRS government is of clear mind. Do you think the state government is prepared for this? I’ll give you two choices. Given that this is an interstate matter, you can either have a Supreme Court judge who is now sitting investigate it or give it to the CBI,” he remarked.
Reddy said that Pragathi Bhavan, the chief minister’s official residence and camp office, had provided the episode’s script, directing, and performers.
Police on Thursday were questioning three persons who were detained while allegedly trying to poach four Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs.
The police had claimed that it caught three persons while they were trying to ‘buy’ four MLAs of TRS.
The four were detained during a raid at a farmhouse at Aziz Nagar on the city outskirts while offering money to four MLAs.
Cyberabad police conducted the raids on a tip-off by the legislators.
Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra said the deal could be to the tune of Rs 100 crore.
TRS MLAs Rega Kantha Rao, Guvvala Balaraju, Beeram Harshvardhan Reddy and Pilot Rohit Reddy had alerted police that attempts were being made to lure them to switch loyalties.
Those detained are Ramachandra Bharati alias S. Satish Sharma from Delhi and Simhayajulu from Tirupati, both said to be temple priests and Nanda Kumar, a businessman from Hyderabad said to be close to a union minister.
Meanwhile, four MLAs met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of the chief minister. Ministers K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao were also present.
In the meeting, KCR discussed the latest developments with ministers and other party leaders.