BJP downplays desertions, hits back with talk of 8 TRS MLAs ready to jump ship

HYDERABAD: The BJP on Saturday hinted that any celebration in the TRS following two of its leaders joining the ruling party could be premature, and alluded to the age-old practice of sending spies into the opponent’s camp.

Though not declaring outright that K. Swamy Goud, and Dr Sravan Dasoju, who quit the BJP in a surprise move on Friday and joined the TRS, as its ‘spies’, the BJP dropped hints to suggest that “they may be there (in the TRS) in body, but in spirit they could be with us (BJP).”

In a further bid to sow confusion in the ruling party ranks, the BJP said at least two TRS MLAs each from Ranga Reddy, Karimnagar, Warangal and Nalgonda districts were in regular touch with it. “They wanted to join the BJP but have been advised to wait till the Munugode bypoll is complete,” BJP MLA M. Raghunandan Rao said.

He said that the TRS was floating rumours that more BJP leaders, including himself, were about to leave the party to confuse BJP workers and demoralise them. “How do they know that if anyone goes to the TRS (from the BJP), they are not being sent there deliberately,” the MLA asked, hinting at the ‘conspiracy’ to send ‘spies’.

However, the party began making serious moves to stem more defections. Party leaders said that senior BJP leader Dr K. Laxman has been made the point man for anyone who feels discontented to reach out to.

Raghunandan Rao, on his part, without naming Goud or Dr Dasoju, but in a pointed reference to the latter, said the two leaders may have been in a hurry to get some benefit by joining the TRS due to their education background and ability to speak English. “When someone can jump from one party to another, it is even possible that the person could well go and join K.A. Paul’s party after joining TRS,” Raghunandan Rao said.

He said that the BJP had “inside information” that while in New Delhi for several days, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had been in touch with the Congress leadership with promises that he would fund the party’s campaign in Munugode in return for the party splitting the anti-incumbency vote. “When the time comes, we will reveal who the middleman for this deal is, including how KCR promised future support to the UPA alliance,” the BJP MLA said.