KARIMNAGAR: At a time when the ruling TRS party is facing severe criticism for allegedly exerting pressure on Independent candidate P Pushparani from the Adivasi community to withdraw her nomination, another incident has come to light that is likely to affect its image further.
An audio clip that purportedly belongs to Social Welfare Minister Koppula Eshwar in which he can be heard threatening a mandal parishad territorial constituency member Venkatesh, warning him not to go against the party, has now gone viral on social media platforms.
In the voice note, Eshwar was also heard offering the MPTC up to Rs 50,000. He further stated that Pedapalli ZP Chairperson Putta Madhu was likely to join the saffron camp. The Minister also passed comments against Peddapalli libraries chairman Raghuveer Singh.
Pointing out that the TRS has enough votes to win the MLC polls, Eshwar further warned MPTC Venkatesh that he would gain nothing by supporting the opposition candidates. He also passed remarks against both the BJP and Congress parties. According to sources, a few pink party MPTC members had reportedly organised a secret meeting a few days ago wherein they planned to devise strategies to work against the party.
After the audio clip went viral, Congress Kisan Cell leader Shashibushan Katche came forward and demanded that the Election Commission take suo moto cognisance of it and initiate a probe. He also demanded that the Karimnagar MLC polls be cancelled.