Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) addressed a press conference on Thursday evening slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for being complicit in Munugode poaching. He appealed to the judiciary to retaliate before the situation worsened.
Excerpts from the conference:
I address this press conference with a lot of grief. Eight years ago, BJP came to power and ruined the country. Rupee is falling, unemployment is at its peak. Divisive politics is destroying the social fabric of India.
Attempts by BJP leaders at Munugode were embarrassing to say the least. They lied through their teeth. They said Congress candidate for the by elections P Shravanti came and met me. We have lost Dubbakal elections, Huzurabad too. But we won in Nagarjuna Sagar, Huzurnagar we won. We need to respect the decision people have taken. It isn’t democracy only if we win.
The BJP claims that the Election Commission has failed, the Commissioner has failed. What kind of accusations are these? Can someone stoop this low? We have fought many by-elections, lost many. But there is such a thing as law and order. Even in social movements, we haven’t fallen this bad.
Be it the legislative, executive, judiciary or media, the BJP has no respect for any wing of the democracy. Where do they get such brazen courage from?
CM KCR presents ‘evidence’ on Munugode poaching:
KCR presented what he called evidences of brokers with ties to BJP poaching candidates from other parties. While the CM spoke about Munugode, he also hinted at poaching cases in Karnataka and further said that attempts to poach are happening in four states.
Even today, I request CJI UU Lalit and all the judges of Supreme Court and the chief justices of various high courts, to protect the country. I request even Telangana’s agencies; be it the police or CBI, the government has submitted all evidences related to poaching in Munugode and other details to the Telangana high court. I have also sent all those details will to the CJI, Supreme Court judges, the high court chief justices.
CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Central Investigative Agencies, and news agencies: PTI, ANI, and all media houses, have been sent the details as well. I will also be sending it to all the chief ministers of the country and all party leaders.
One may ask as to why I should send it to so many people. Because people should know the injustices which crop up.
PM only says in West Bengal that he is in touch with MLAs from Trinamool Congress. Further they say, there will be an Eknath Shinde in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu. Even the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, says at Munugode campaign, we will crush the state government here. Other states’ leaders called me too. If we don’t all do our bit, we will crash.
They also claim they have people in place at different zillas in Telangana. Can someone talk like this? Is this a tamasha (performance), a joke?
Ramachandra Bharati, a broker met Tandoor MLA Rohit Reddy despite Reddy’s unwillingness. Then Reddy complained to us and we took it the home ministry. One cannot lose any more governments to the BJP. They will destroy Telangana, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan by poaching or any other means. We have already lost so many governments. We cannot lose anymore.
ED to Income tax is under us, says BJP. With so much indignance, they speak like this. The people who tried to poach ahead of Munugode spoke live as well. They were contacted by a man named Tushar, a BJP candidate who campaigned against Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad, Kerala. He was declared a candidate by Union home minister Amit Shah. (holds up photograph of Shah and Tushar)
Who should rescue this nation? This is such a big scam. Each person involved in the poaching have three Aadhar cards, three pan cards, the names keep changing. Who will produce these ID proofs? It is with a heavy heart that I hold this press conference.
Where will the country go to? Fake ID proofs, pan cards, the thousands of crores were invested in this scam. The minute I got to know about this, I alerted the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. I cautioned him.
The judiciary shouldn’t view this as one problem. Neither should the election commission, media or anyone else. This makes for unhealthy situations which aren’t desirable. Farmers are dying, unemployment is on the rise. But putting all this aside, they are doing as they please.
We are also sending these details to all the DGPs. This situation is not okay. The responsibility of repairing this falls on the public, the media, the intellectuals and students of this country. They have no fear or shame.
Highlights from the video of brokers talking played at the press conference:
The CM also played the video of the brokers talking about poaching even as he voiced his opinions on the situation.
The brokers in the video can be discussing the amount offered to party leaders quiet openly. As one broker remarks 15 crores, the others laugh. “Ramachandra Bharati is the one in the blue shirt speaking about bribes,” says KCR. “He is the one responsible for fake IDs. The other man is Simhayyaji from Tirupati, the other man is a broke from Hyderabad. These are the three men.“
“Tushar is speaking to Amit Shah, Santosh and they okay it (poaching). There is three more hours of this footage. One can apply to the high court for the whole footage, we are also sending it to media houses. Tushar spoke on the phone call as well.” adds the CM.
I request only one thing: When NTR’s government was attacked, we all got together and attacked. If you listen to this, it will shock you. The video also says that MLAs in Karnataka were poached by these brokers. They explain how they go to Mumbai, everything is given in the video. Amit Shah’s name alone is mentioned 20 times, he mentioned PM Modi twice.
Where are they getting these 100 crores from? He (Tushar) mentions that they have spent 1200 crores on buying MLAs. The judiciary alone has saved this country time and again and they need to do the same now. Allahabad High Court gave a verdict against Indira Gandhi. That is how the fight started. The video says that the Maharashtra poaching case was carried out from a resort. “I stay at AIIMS in Delhi, I roam in a chartered flight, do what we want he says shamelessly,” remarks KCR.
I request India’s judiciary to save us. They are currently in the process of dethroning four governments: Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi. They state how many MLAs are managed. They say it all shamelessly.
“We need to view this as a great concern. When cops seized their phone, they got the call data. Their entire history from 2015 has been submitted to the high court. All call logs and laptop data is 1000 page evidence,” continues KCR.
He further pleads, “This is not okay. We should fight against this. I became the CM the same time you became the PM, Prime Minister Modi. We worked together. I also hold a Constitutional position. Take responsibility, PM Modi. Protect your name in history. Till where can this go? Put an end to this. The entire youth of this country, as well as the intellectuals, democracy lovers, just remember Jayaprakash Narayan. Remember Gandhi, Nehru, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel who could have just lived life lavishly. They didn’t. Don’t ruin India. Save this country.”
“This poaching, this scam is hindering the progress of this country. We need to focus on real issues so that India improves,” he concludes.
