KT Rama Rao slams Digvijay Singh for jibe on drugs

Hyderabad: AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday tweeted saying “influential friends of the TRS heir- apparent” were involved in the Telangana drug racket. In response, IT minister K.T. Rama Rao said that it was time for Mr Singh to retire from politics as he had “completely lost it”.

On July 2, the enforcement wing of the Telangana Excise Department cracked down on the drug racket in the state. At the moment, members of the Special Investigation Team are quizzing a number of film personalities who are allegedly involved in the drug trade. 

Mr Digvijay Singh and a few of his fellow Congressmen have accused some individuals with close ties to the government of involvement in the racket.

BJP asks Diggy to reveal proof
In May, Mr Digvijay Singh had accused the Telangana State Police of setting up a bogus ISIS site to trap young Muslim men and demanded that the Chief Minister step down from his post. On Thursday, he stirred up yet another controversy by tweeting, “Huge Drug Scam in Telangana. Influential friends of TRS heir apparent involved. Let’s see if they would be saved or prosecuted”.

Mr Rama Rao immediately tweeted back, “You’ve completely lost it sir. Time to retire gracefully & do something worth your age. Glad that you’ve finally learnt to spell Telangana”.

According to agency reports, when asked to clarify who he was referring to when he said “heir apparent,” Mr Singh said, “It’s now for them (TRS) to respond. It could be Harish Rao, it could be KTR (Rama Rao), and it could be the daughter of the CM, whoever is the heir apparent.”

Congress leader Shabbir Ali said that Mr Digvijay Singh would never say something without evidence. “His allegations must be true,” he said. 

BJP Spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao asked why Mr Digvijay Singh was resorting to blackmail politics. He said that if he had any names or evidence to prove the alleged links with TRS politicians, he should speak openly and make the evidence public.

Pedapalli MP Balka Suman, a staunch supporter of K.T. Rama Rao, said that it would be good for Digvijay Singh to be enrolled in the mental asylum of Erragadda Hospital in Hyderabad. He added that he would ensure that Mr Singh received treatment for free there. He said that it was not expected of Mr Singh to make such baseless allegations at a time when Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao was determined to permanently weed out the drug menace from Telangana.

Former Union Minister and Special Representative for the Telangana State Government in New Delhi S. Venugopala Chary said that the fact that Mr Singh did not have any morals and scruples was made evident when he married a woman who was half his age. He said that with age he seemed to be developing Alzheimer’s disease, which was causing him to make wild, baseless allegations.