Phone Tapping Fear Haunts Leaders of All Parties in Nalgonda

 Nalgonda: The revelation of phone tapping of Nakrekal MLA Vemula Veeresham and his close aides by the police has sparked tension among leaders of all political parties, including the BRS, in the district. Leaders now suspect their phones might have also been tapped during the BRS regime.

Investigations into phone tapping cases revealed that the mobile phones of Veeresham and his close associates were tapped in 2022, prior to his departure from the BRS.

Vemula Veeresham was first elected to the Telangana Legislative Assembly from the Nakrekal constituency in 2014 as a BRS candidate. However, he lost the seat in the 2018 elections to Congress candidate Chirumarthi Lingaiah.

After Lingaiah joined the BRS in March 2019, Veeresham's significance within the party diminished. Despite his efforts to secure a party ticket for the 2023 Assembly elections, he was unsuccessful.

It was during the Munugode Assembly elections that Veeresham and his close aides’ phones were tapped, even while he was still a member of the ruling party. Dissident BRS leaders at the time also suspected their phones had been tapped.

The police investigation found that Lingaiah had forwarded the phone numbers of realtor Madhan Reddy and a close relative of Veeresham to the then additional SP (Intelligence), Thirupathanna, for tapping. It is also believed that phones belonging to Veeresham’s followers were tapped by the intelligence officer.

Veeresham had long-standing differences with former intelligence chief Prabhakar Reddy, dating back to Reddy’s tenure as SP of Nalgonda district. Veeresham strongly believes that Prabhakar played a key role in denying him a ticket in 2023 by providing misleading information about him to the BRS leadership.

Interestingly, Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy has remained silent on the issue of phone tapping, which was allegedly used to target him during the 2022 by-elections for the Munugode Assembly constituency. Reddy, who contested as a BJP candidate, lost in those by-elections.