Govt awaits Governor's nod to prosecute KTR

Hyderabad: A strategic silence maintained by Governor Jishnu Dev Varma on giving his approval to prosecute BRS working president K T Rama Rao in Formula E race scam has put the state government in a tight spot.

Leaders said that the Governor was ‘deliberately’ consuming time to order the arrest of KTR as it would attract political implications. “The BJP high command could have asked the Governor to keep the issue in the backburner to clear the air on collusion politics in the state in the wake of strong speculations that state BJP leadership was soft towards Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy”.

The State Government has sent a request to the Governor to give permission to prosecute the BRS MLA and former minister KTR under PC act section A in the Formula racing scam. The probing agencies contended KTR ordered the release of Rs 55 crore without the concurrence of the state finance wing and cabinet and paid the amount to the car racing agency directly. “The government has been waiting for a month to get a response from Raj Bhavan on the state request but no official communication is received so far. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy already met the Governor two times and requested to dispose of the issue ".

The recent visit to Delhi by the Governor and KTR’s meeting with some Union Ministers raised speculations that the BJP high command was not in a mood to help the Congress government to arrest the BRS leader. State BJP leaders' continuous target against the BRS leadership on every issue and maintaining silence on state government’s failure in implementing promises gave an impression that the BJP and CM indulged in collusion politics. “If Governor gives approval to arrest KTR, it will give enough indication of friendly relations between BJP and Congress in the state”. Leaders said that on the other hand, political circles are agog with a talk that BRS leadership requested the BJP high command to keep KTR issue at bay to avoid unfriendly political equations with the saffron party in the future.

Leaders said that the ball was in the Governor’s court and hence every decision taken by Raj Bhavan will directly impact the BJP political prospects in the coming days. “The high command will only take a call on the issue to safeguard the reputation of the Governor and the party interests”, leaders said.