HYDERABAD: Declaring yet again that he was innocent and did no wrong with respect to the conduct of Formula E race in Hyderabad, BRS working president and former minister K.T. Rama Rao stated on Tuesday that he, as a law abiding citizen and having full faith in the judiciary, would pursue every legal avenue to fight the “trumped up” case against him.
Rama Rao, who said he had approached the Supreme Court after the High Court rejected his quash petition in the case, added that he would approach the Telangana High Court on Wednesday seeking protection of his legal rights to have a lawyer present during questioning by the investigating agencies.
On Monday’s events at the ACB office, Rama Rao said the action of the officials showed they were “scared even to ask questions with my lawyers present. I was ready to answer any question.”
I am going to the High Court seeking the presence of my lawyers during questioning, and to protect me from these rogues who sought to frame our leader Patnam Narender Reddy using similar methods,” he said.
The Congress government’s interest is in “Formula E. Our interest is farmers. All Revanth Reddy knows is destruction, distraction and deception, and this case is one such attempt,” Rama Rao said.
To BRS leaders and workers who gathered at his house, Rama Rao said, “this is just the beginning. There will be many more cases in the next four years. The law will protect us. Justice does not come from leaks from the CM’s office or media trials. It comes from the judiciary.”
“I am saying this 110 per cent. I am ready to go for any questioning. On January 9, if the court permits lawyers to accompany me, I will go to the ACB. I will go to the ED too. Honesty comes with a lot of courage. There was no quid pro quo. Not a single rupee worth corruption. My goal was to improve Tealgnana’s image, and that of Hyderabad as a global city,” Rama Rao told reporters at his Nandinagar residence.
Earlier in the day, soon after the High Court dismissed his quash petition, several BRS leaders, including his sister and party MLC K. Kavita and former minister T. Harish Rao, rushed to Rama Rao’s residence to express solidarity with their leader.
Throughout the day, former ministers took turns to address the media, and trash the Congress government’s “witchhunt” against Rama Rao who they said would emerge clean from the current crisis.
While Kavita stayed away from the media, Harish Rao stated that the court had only said the case could be investigated, and that Rama Rao and the BRS would fully cooperate with the authorities. “We are confident that no mistake was made in this matter. We have faith in the judiciary and are certain that KTR will emerge clean like a shining pearl,” Harish Rao said.
He said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was worried that “KTR was relentlessly holding the government to account on its failed promises to the people. This case is a conspiracy to divert attention from the Congress government’s failures.”
Former ministers including V Srinivas Goud, G Jagadish Reddy, and Satyavathi Rathod, along with BRS MLAs and MLCs, were among those who defended Rama Rao.
