HYDERABAD: Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday released what he claimed to be clinching ‘evidence’ in the alleged poaching attempt of four TRS MLAs by the BJP and disclosed that he had sent the same to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Supreme Court judges and CJs and others judges of high courts as well as presidents of all parties and CMs of all States.
Speaking at a press conference at Pragathi Bhavan, soon after the Munugode bypoll concluded, Rao implored the Judiciary to discuss the ‘evidence’ and take steps as per law to save democracy. He said that they had submitted three-hour-long video footage containing the discussion of the accused with TRS MLAs, to the high court.
“We have obtained the call data of the brokers from 2015 and also retrieved the data from their laptops, which runs into 70,000 to 80,000 pages,” Rao said.
The TRS supremo said that he sent the ‘evidence’ to all the agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Central Vigilance Commission, DGPs of all states and all prominent news agencies in the country and media houses.
‘Shah’s name mentioned 20 times, Modi’s twice’
Playing excerpts of the video footage for the media, Rao alleged that the accused claimed that they dethroned governments in eight States and were planning to pull down the governments in Delhi, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
He alleged that the accused took the name of Union Home Minister Amit Shah 20 times and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name twice during their attempts to poach the TRS MLAs.
Finding fault with the BJP for toppling the State governments ruled by the Opposition parties, Rao recalled that the PM had told the public in West Bengal that around 40 Trinamool Congress MLAs were in touch with him.
He recalled that Jayaprakash Narayan started a movement across the country when Indira Gandhi made the mistake of imposing an Emergency, which then led to the defeat of ‘invincible Indira’. Another such movement would be started across the country soon, he said.
The TRS supremo termed the ‘purchasing of MLAs’ and pulling down of the popular State governments as “organised crime”.The CM said that the accused claimed that they had a 24-member gang and even explained how they transported MLAs in Karnataka. He also released the fake ID cards of the accused. The Chief Minister alleged that the accused had multiple driving licences, and Aadhaar and PAN cards.
“This type of undemocratic (practices) is unhealthy and (such) undesirable acts should not continue in the country,” he said. The BJP was in the hands of ‘anti-Constitutional forces’, he alleged. “I will not keep quiet when they are saying that they will topple my government,” Rao thundered.The CM also alleged that the accused even mentioned Tushar, BJP’s candidate against Rahul Gandhi from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, and explained how they were going to pay money to TRS MLAs.
Towards the end of the presser, he urged the PM to do good for the people. “Modi Ji, I am also holding a constitutional position and became the Chief Minister in the same way you became the Prime minister. Please respect democracy. Accha kaam kijiye (Do good work). Murdering democracy is not good,” he said.
It may be recalled here that Telangana police arrested three persons — Ramachadra Bharati, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji — when they allegedly tried to lure four TRS MLAs into BJP on October 26.
Rao is insecure: Kishan
Reacting to the CM’s press conference, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy said KCR’s ‘insecurity and intolerance’ was evident in his media address, which ‘stemmed from people of Telangana losing faith in the CM’s family’. Kishan reiterated that the BJP had nothing to do with the alleged poaching case, and that it was a lie scripted by some paid artistes and the TRS MLAs involved, which the CM was trying to put forward.