Hyderabad: Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Friday took an oath at the state’s Yadadri temple, stressing that his party was not involved in the alleged poaching of four Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs.
He also challenged Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to do the same and prove that he had not scripted the MLA poaching controversy. The BJP chief also challenged CM Rao and the four TRS MLAs to undergo a lie detector test.
The Cyberabad Police Wednesday arrested three individuals, including a priest from Faridabad, a seer from Tirupati and a Hyderabad-based businessman, for allegedly trying to lure four TRS MLAs to join the BJP.
“The chief minister is not able to protect his own MLAs. He knows that the Munugode assembly bypoll is going to be a setback for the party (TRS) and hence all of this has been plotted. I came here and took an oath. I am asking Chief Minister KCR, who claims to be a devout Hindu, can he do the same?” Sanjay said at the temple.
He added, “As they got to know that I was heading to Yadadri, the police were informed about it. TRS goons tried to create hurdles on the way. And yet, I am here. The chief minister renovated this entire Yadadri temple with a massive budget and said it is very prestigious for our state. So why not come to this divine spot and take an oath.”
The arrests were made late at night Wednesday from a farmhouse of one of the TRS legislators, Pilot Rohith Reddy. Reddy had given a tip-off to the police to arrive at the location. The accused were released Thursday after an ACB (anti-corruption bureau) court judge rejected the remand request, citing lack of evidence.
Political slugfest
Soon after the arrests, both parties accused each other of hatching a controversy, and calling the arrests “staged”. Sanjay had earlier called it an “entirely fake drama” and an attempt to taint the image of Hindu Dharma by dragging seers and priests into the issue.
Meanwhile, reacting to Sanjay’s temple visit, many TRS leaders also wondered if Union Home Minister Amit Shah will come and take an oath at the temple to prove BJP’s innocence.
“Only BJP can drag religion and god into such issues. If BJP is so confident about them being innocent, why not call Shah and ask him to take an oath? They’re calling CM KCR to the temple to take oath. Why didn’t Shah come first?” Telangana Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao said.
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