BJP Demands CBI Probe into Telangana Phone-Tapping Scandal

Hyderabad: The BJP said that it would not relent till the Revanth Reddy government orders a CBI probe into phone-tapping operation and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and his henchmen are sent behind bars “for a heinous crime which no state government has done in the 75 year history of Independent India for cheap personal, political and financial gains.”

The party held a protest at Dharna Chowk near Indira Park against what it said was the inordinate delay by the Congress government on the matter. The party also demanded stringent action against Rao for his alleged plan to frame BJP senior leader B.L. Santosh in a fake MLA poaching case and arrest him to bargain for BRS MLA K. Kavitha in the Delhi liquor policy scam.

BJP Parliamentary Board member Dr K. Laxman pointed out that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was also a victim of phone tapping and had been arrested by the BRS government but was not moving ahead on the case due to instructions from the high command. “Revanth is adopting diversionary tactics by raising issues of state emblem and anthem to take away attention from his failure to issues poll-time promises,” Dr Laxman said.

Dr Laxman said Revanth Reddy had not taken action on several issues that he had picked up during the Assembly poll campaign: `1 lakh crore corruption in the Kaleshwaram scheme land deals through the Dharani portal and the drug mafia.

BJP Chevella candidate Konda Vishweshwar Reddy charged that Chandrashekar Rao and his son K.T. Rama Rao and others had acted like an organised mafia, and said he would write to the Election Commission to disband the BRS for involvement in an organised crime. He was supported by Bhuvanagiri candidate Dr Boora Narsaiah Goud.

Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, BJP co-incharge for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, found fault with the Revanth Reddy government for not recalling the services of BJP leader Sushma Swaraj who demanded statehood for Telangana.

BJP general secretary Kasam Venkateshwarlu said the party would intensify its protest till the state government ordered a CBI inquiry into the phone-tapping operation.