Hyderabad: The Telangana police registered an FIR and began investigation after a ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti MLA complained that three persons offered Rs 100 crore to him if he resigned from the TRS and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). TRS's Tandur MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy made the complaint based on which the police conducted searches at his farm house in Moinabad near Hyderabad.
The TRS alleged that the accused persons offered to hold consultations with four of its MLAs in the farm house. Following this, the police held searches to find out whether they brought any cash. On his part, TRS MLA Rohit Reddy alleged that he was offered Rs 100 crore and Rs. 50 crore each to those TRS MLAs who would cross over to the BJP along with him.
However, the BJP Telangana leaders dismissed the TRS MLA's claims as false and as just yet another drama scripted by the ruling party leadership in the State ahead of the Munugode byelection. The four TRS MLAs, who are allegedly on the BJP radar, are Pilot Rohit Reddy (Tandur), Guvvala Bala Raju (Achchampeta), Rega Kantha Rao (Pinapaka) and Harshavardhan Reddy (Kollapur).
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The FIR is registered against one Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma of Delhi, one Nanda Kumar of Hyderabad and one Simhayaji Swamy of Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh. TRS MLA Rohit Reddy claimed that all the three accused offered to come to his farmhouse at Aziznagar in Moinabad to hold negotiations for his crossing over to the BJP and also to lure some more MLAs from the TRS.
Rohit Reddy alleged that he was offered contracts and positions at the national level if he resigned from the TRS to contest the next assembly election on the BJP ticket. The TRS MLA further claimed that they threatened if he does not join the BJP now, he would face criminal cases and raids by the Central agencies like the ED and the CBI.
As per TRS MLA's complaint, a case is registered on the charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption. The investigation has been entrusted to ACP Rajendrangar, sources said.
Refuting the TRS allegations, BJP senior leader and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy described it as one more drama being enacted by TRS chief and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao. CM KCR is resorting to these gimmicks due to frustration over certain defeat of his TRS party candidate in the Munugode byelection, the Union Ministers said.
"Munugode voters will vote for dharma even if TRS spends thousands of crores. Survey are forecasting this. No details are being given about cash seizure. Has that money come from MLAs or from KCR farm house?" asked Kishan Reddy. The Union Minister further said that it was KCR who caused defections from other parties and gave Ministerial berths to them. The TRS should explain on what basis it had joined 12 Congress MLAs, he said.
Meanwhile, Cyberabad police commissioner Stephen Ravindra said: "Some searches are conducted based on TRS MLAs' complaints that some persons are luring them with cash, contracts and posts. We received information about some persons meeting in a farm house in Aziznagar. Details will be given after through investigation. Necessary legal action will be taken."
