HYDERABAD: Congress leaders on Tuesday criticised BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao for his “conduct” while appearing before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for questioning in the phone-tapping case.
Accusing the previous BRS regime of illegally surveilling private conversations of several people, they asserted that Harish was questioned in connection with a “serious offence”.
Congress MLAs rejected the BRS claim of political vendetta, stating that the case predates elections and alleged widespread misuse of state machinery, including the tapping of phones of Opposition leaders and their families during the BRS regime.
Government Whip Beerla Ilaiah said that Harish was projecting himself as a person of valour, conveniently forgetting that he was being questioned in connection with a serious crime.
He alleged that the BRS leader was part of the team that tapped the telephones but was now posing as if he was “Satya Harishchandra”.
Ilaiah also recalled that BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kavitha too publicly stated that her husband’s phone was tapped.
“The BRS is questioning the timing of Harish Rao’s interrogation, claiming that it was deliberately timed ahead of municipal elections. But the fact is the phone-tapping case is much older,” he added.
Congress MLC Balmoor Venkat, meanwhile, said that the SIT had also called him as a witness in the past. “Now, Harish Rao is summoned in the same case, and the BRS leaders are acting as if the SIT has summoned the father of the nation,” he said.
“It was not just my phone. My family and even my watchman’s phones were tapped during the BRS regime,” he alleged.
“The then TPCC president, who is now the chief minister, was also arrested, and jailed during the previous regime,” he said, dismissing the BRS allegations of vindictive politics.
Addanki Dayakar, another Congress MLC, criticised the Opposition, stating that they are celebrating even the law enforcement summoning one of their leaders. “They (BRS) have no shame in celebrating Harish’s summoning,” he said.