KTR, Harish Rao ‘monitor’ ED interrogation of Kavitha

HYDERABAD: Saturday was a day of high tension and emotional swings for BRS leaders camping in New Delhi to rally behind party MLC K. Kavitha, who spent most of the day at the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) office.

Hundreds of party supporters gathered at the Delhi residence of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Tughlak Road amid heavy police presence.

The area reverberated with slogans in Kavitha’s support. Several banners saying ‘bye bye Modi’ were erected near Rao’s residence where Kavitha spent the night. With her were her husband Devanapalli Anil Kumar, brother K.T. Rama Rao and cousin T. Harish Rao.

Around 11 am Kavitha left for the ED office on Abdul Kalam Road in a 10-vehicle convoy.

She displayed a closed fist to her supporters before entering the office, which was off-limits for everyone else. When she returned home around 8.30 pm, the visibly relieved family members greeted her with an aarti.

Earlier, with tensions running high, the Delhi police imposed Section 144 in the area. The police had posted several women officers from Central forces while Delhi police barricaded the premises.

BRS activists and leaders erected banners highlighting the names of political leaders from other parties, who indulged in irregularities but had not been proceeded against since they had joined the BJP.

On Friday night and Saturday, Rama Rao and Harish Rao, who reached the national capital on Friday, discussed with legal experts on ED’s questioning of Kavitha. Both closely monitored ED questioning.

Ministers Sabitha Indra Reddy, V. Srinivas Goud and Satyavathi Rathod, TSRTC chairman Bajireddy Govardhan Reddy, Nizamabad Urban MLA Bigala Ganesh, senior party leader K. Kesava Rao and others were in Delhi.

Meanwhile, state and central intelligence personnel were deployed at the ED office and Chandrashekar Rao’s residence to collect information from people gathered at the premises.