Hyderabad: Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Monday, May 18, alleged that the BRS was trying to defame the saffron party over the POCSO case registered against the son of Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
Addressing a meeting of party leaders and workers here, he said the BJP would take action against Bandi Sanjay if he had committed any wrongdoing. However, he asserted that the union minister had done nothing wrong.
He added that the legal process would take its course if Bandi Sanjay’s son was found to be involved in any wrongdoing.
Observing that applying for anticipatory bail is a legal remedy, Rao said the union minister’s son surrendered before the police after his plea for anticipatory bail was rejected.
“The BRS, as if it has nothing else to do, is harping on the minister’s son. It is spending crores of rupees on wall posters, social media campaigns and its own media outlets. BRS leaders, especially KTR (K T Rama Rao), are trying to defame an individual and the BJP,” he claimed.
Rao said the case involving Bandi Sanjay’s son should be left to the police and that the law should take its course.
The BJP leader claimed that crimes against women rose by 67 per cent during the BRS’s 10-year tenure.
He said 14,147 cases of crimes against women were registered in 2014, when the BRS came to power, compared with 23,679 cases in 2023, when the party lost office.
Rao referred to several high-profile cases involving crimes against women during the BRS regime, such as the 2022 Jubilee Hills minor rape case, the 2019 gang rape of a woman in Asifabad district, the harassment of a woman doctor, and allegations made by a BRS sarpanch against an MLA.
“Did the then CM K Chandrasekhar Rao or then minister K T Rama Rao resign from their posts over these crimes against women?” he asked.
“Did KCR or KTR resign when a woman from your family (Kavitha) was sent to jail in the Delhi liquor policy case?” Rao said.
In February this year, a Delhi court discharged former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia, Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha (daughter of KCR) and 20 others in the politically charged liquor policy case.
“What moral right does the BRS have to attack the BJP?” he asked.
Alleging a tacit understanding between the ruling Congress and the BRS, Rao said the Congress government should take action against BRS leaders in cases related to alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, built during the previous BRS regime, and the Formula E race case, in which K T Rama Rao is an accused.
The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project is a multi-purpose project on the Godavari River in Bhupalpally district. Damage to the barrages, built during the previous BRS regime, became a major issue in the 2023 Assembly election.
The Formula-E race was held in Hyderabad in February 2023.
Although the second edition of the race was initially planned for 2024, it was cancelled after the Congress government assumed office in December 2023.
The probe against Rao pertains to alleged irregularities in payments amounting to about Rs 55 crore, most of which were in foreign currency, in “violation of laid-down procedures” during the previous BRS regime, for the event planned for 2024.
KCR had earlier downplayed the Formula E race case and said he is ready for a lie-detector test.
Bandi Sanjay’s son, Bageerath, was arrested on the night of May 16 in connection with a POCSO case registered against him and was later remanded to judicial custody by a magistrate.
