HYDERABAD: An audio clip, wherein Karimnagar District Collector Sarfaraz Ahmed was allegedly heard assuring BJP’s Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar that BC Welfare and Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar would be disqualified in the 2018 Assembly elections for excess expenditure, sent shockwaves across political circles on Saturday.
The purported clip was recorded in 2018, when Bandi and Kamalakar were contesting the State Assembly polls for the BJP and TRS, respectively. However, Sarfaraz Ahmed clarified that the said audio clip was a “cut and paste job made with malafide intent”. The clip has gone viral across social media platforms.
The conversation allegedly occurred sometime between the Assembly election on December 7, 2018, and January 10, 2019. BJP’s Bandi Sanjay Kumar was defeated by Kamalakar in the polls. A few months later, Bandi was elected as BJP’s Karimnagar MP, after he defeated TRS’ B Vinod Kumar.
Responding to the audio clip, Kamalakar alleged that a “conspiracy” was hatched against him to ensure his disqualification in the Assembly elections. The minister, then, brought the issue to the notice of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday. “I will abide by whatever decision the chief minister takes on the matter,” Kamalakar told Express over phone.
He alleged that the District Collector and Election Officer Sarfaraz Ahmed deliberately booked him for excess expenditure. “When I had used 10 cars in the elections, they claimed I had used 100,” the minister claimed.
When contacted, district collector Sarfaraz Ahmed confirmed that he had spoken to Bandi with regard to Kamalakar’s expenditure. He, however, clarified that the entire conversation had taken place for about eight minutes. “The audio clip that went viral is just over one and a half minutes. It is a cut and paste job done by people who have malafide intentions,” he said.
The collector added that the expenditure statement of Kamalakar was uploaded on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website. “Kamalakar’s expenditure is well within the stipulated expenditure limit. There is no question of him being disqualified for excess expenditure now,” Sarfaraz said. He, however, refused to comment on Kamalakar’s “conspiracy theory”.