MLAs poaching row: Kishan Reddy calls it as fabricated incident

Hyderabad: Union Minister and Senior BJP leader G Kishan Reddy on Thursday said that the claim that TRS MLAs were lured by the BJP is 'fabricated' by the ruling TRS and should be seen as an attempt to divert people's attention from the loss that the TRS is going to suffer in the upcoming Munugodu bypoll.

The Minister questioned the investigation process conducted by the State police and said that the police has not informed whether the money that was said to be found came from the 'farm house' or 'Pragati Bhavan'.

Police on Thursday were questioning three persons who were detained while allegedly trying to poach four Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs.

The police had claimed that it caught three persons while they were trying to 'buy' four MLAs of TRS.

The four were detained during a raid at a farmhouse at Aziz Nagar on the city outskirts while offering money to four MLAs.

Cyberabad police conducted the raids on a tip-off by the legislators.

Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra said the deal could be to the tune of Rs 100 crore.

TRS MLAs Rega Kantha Rao, Guvvala Balaraju, Beeram Harshvardhan Reddy and Pilot Rohit Reddy had alerted police that attempts were being made to lure them to switch loyalties.

Those detained are Ramachandra Bharati alias S. Satish Sharma from Delhi and Simhayajulu from Tirupati, both said to be temple priests and Nanda Kumar, a businessman from Hyderabad said to be close to a union minister.

Meanwhile, four MLAs met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of the chief minister. Ministers KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao were also present.

In the meeting, KCR discussed the latest developments with ministers and other party leaders.

The BJP's State unit has denied that it had any role in the attempt to lure TRS MLAs, with the party's State chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar accusing TRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao of enacting a drama.

Addressing a press conference late on Wednesday, Bandi Sanjay said the TRS attempt was to stop the MLAs from leaving the party and to get political mileage ahead of the Munugodu by-poll. Challenging the Chief Minister to release CCTV footage of the last three days from the Deccan Kitchen hotel in Film Nagar, he alleged that a TRS leader from Munugodu was staying there for the last few days. Sanjay also demanded the release of CCTV footage from the Chief Minister's official residence at Pragati Bhavan and call details of the Swamiji who was detained.

The BJP State chief also went to the extent of issuing threats to the police personnel involved in Wednesday's developments, saying that the police were the actors in the drama, that the BJP would not leave this, and that the lives of the cops were 'ruined'.

Also challenging the Chief Minister to reach the Yadadri temple and take an oath that he was not behind the conspiracy, Sanjay alleged that the conspiracy was hatched by Chandrashekhar Rao in Delhi and that the son of a TRS MLA was also involved in the episode. He also wanted a sitting judge to probe the incident.

On photographs of the accused standing with BJP leaders including himself being circulated, Sanjay said just because they got photographed with BJP leaders, they could not be linked to them.

Denying the role of the BJP in the covert operation to purchase of four TRS MLAs, senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member K Laxman alleged that the entire drama was scripted at Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's official residence Pragati Bhavan to defame the BJP.

Demanding a probe by a sitting High Court judge or the Central Bureau of Investigation into the entire episode, Laxman said his party never lured any TRS MLA to switch over to BJP for monetary gains.

"We always insist opposition party MLAs to resign and join us. Even Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy resigned from Congress and joined BJP," he said, and alleged that the three persons arrested on Wednesday had links to the Chief Minister's relatives.

Laxman also alleged the role of police in the entire episode and asked why the police had not recorded the statements of the four MLAs so far and what happened to the money. "Police have so far not given any detail about the money seized from the accused. Why is the police maintaining silence?" he asked.

Similarly, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Dubbaka MLA Raghunandan Rao reacted to the allegations of a covert operation to buy four TRS MLAs and termed it as a drama played by Pragati Bhavan. Speaking to the media, MLA Raghunandan Rao said that it is a pre-planned drama and questioned how the Ministers and MLAs staged protests at a national highway in the night raising slogans against BJP and Narendra Modi.

He stated that TRS is hatching conspiracies as they have fear of losing Munugodu by-elections. Raghunandan Rao further stated that they will react after TRS leaders submit the proofs today afternoon. He asked for a CBI probe or a sitting High Court or Supreme Court judge investigation into the issue.

The city Police on Thursday were questioning three persons who were detained while allegedly trying to poach four Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLAs.

The questioning was taking place at an undisclosed location.

The three accused are Ramachandra Bharati alias S Satish Sharma from Delhi and Simhayajulu from Tirupati, both godmen; and Nanda Kumar, a businessman from Hyderabad. They likely to be produced before a court in Rangareddy district later in the day.

Cyberabad police reportedly booked a case against the accused under Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code for trying to lure the legislators with huge money, important posts and contracts.

The detained are said to be close to a Union Minister.

They were detained on Wednesday during a police raid at a farm house at Aziz Nagar near Moinabad.

They were shifted to an undisclosed location late in the night.

Replying to questions from media, Nanda Kumar said they were at the farm house to perform 'puja'.

Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra said the police came to the farm house on tip-off by the legislators.

The Commissioner said the MLAs alleged that some BJP leaders were trying to lure them to defect from the TRS by offering prominent posts, contracts and huge cash.

TRS MLAs Rega Kantha Rao, Guvvala Balaraju, Beeram Harshvardhan Reddy and Pilot Rohit Reddy had alerted police that attempts were being made to lure them to switch loyalties.

The police have taken control of the farm house. A thorough search was being carried out to find out if the accused had hidden any cash in the premises.

The accused reportedly offered a deal of Rs 100 crore each to the MLAs. There was no official word about the cash seized so far.

The police have seized the mobile phones of the accused and were scanning the call data as they had reportedly spoken to a key leader in Delhi during the meeting with the MLAs.

The TRS MLAs on Wednesday night met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. The ruling party claimed that the MLAs foiled a conspiracy by the BJP to buy them.

The BJP, however, denied the allegation. Its leaders alleged that the Chief Minister had enacted a drama to draw political mileage from it.