Kishore Poreddy Column : People bemused at KCR’s allegations on ‘poaching’ by BJP

Ali Bhai is a Dubai-based gangster. Police arrest him along with one of his associates. The next day, the associate is found dead in his cell by the police. Enraged at this, Commissioner of Police Syed Mohammed Pasha Qadri rushes into the cell where Ali Bhai is held captive and questions him about his deceased associate’s details. The adamant Ali Bhai, instead of answering the Commissioner’s questions, taunts the Commissioner with his own challenge of sending him on a wild goose chase.  

“What can you do to me? At the most, you will produce me in a court. Do you know what I will say in Court? I will say that Mega Star Chiranjeevi and I are friends. I have a photo taken with him. I will produce that photo as evidence. I will show the court a video in which Amitabh Bachchan and I are at a party together in Mumbai. You guys believe that Rajinikanth moves with monks in Rishikesh. I will tell the Court that it is a lie and that he lives with me in Dubai. I will say that we are all close friends and belong to the same mafia gang. As a matter of fact, I don’t know any of them personally, but by the time you track the truth and prove it, it will take you 10 years.”

This scene from the super hit movie Pokiri (Rogue) from 2006, starring Mahesh Babu in the lead, won wide appreciation from the audience for the performance of Prakash Raj as Ali Bhai and Sayaji Shinde as Syed Mohammed Pasha Qadri. Now ask yourself – what if the Police Commissioner declares Chirajneevi, Amitabh Bachhan and Rajinikanth as members of a criminal mafia gang and books cases against them based on the tittle-tattle of a deviant, cunning criminal?

That is exactly what Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao did during a press conference held on Thursday. The Chief Minister accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and its top leaders of a criminal  conspiracy to topple his government by purchasing four of his party’s MLAs based purely on the claims of three persons about their high-level connections. The people of Telangana were bemused at the allegations made by the CM and left wondering about inconsistencies in the ‘plot’ that should have set the alarm bells ringing – at least in the minds of the police and the media. I will highlight a few of these obvious questions below.

First, where is the money? The story put out was that the accused had come to the farmhouse of one of the four MLAs they wanted to ‘purchase’ with tons of cash. What happened to that cash? Some channels even showed visuals of stacks of cash bundles and claimed it was the cash brought to ‘purchase’ the MLAs.

Second, where are the BJP leaders in the scene? None of the three accused who were immediately arrested by the police was from the BJP. If the photos of some BJP leaders with the accused imply a direct connection, social media threw up photos of the accused with tons of senior TRS leaders, including Harish Rao and Santosh Rao.

Third, wasn’t one of the accused – Nandu – closely associated with TRS, especially with members of the Chief Minister’s family? It was reported that Nandu is a partner in a private company with the son of the Chief Minister’s brother. It was also reported that there were cases of Zarda smuggling against one of his partners in another company he owns and that he was involved in high-value land disputes. It looked like Nandu was not only deeply connected with those in power but also in need of their help with the messes he was in. Doesn’t this make Nandu’s story highly suspicious?

Fourth, why were the four MLAs – ones whom the accused tried to ‘purchase’ – taken from the farmhouse directly to Pragathi Bhavan? Why were they not examined by the police? And even more intriguing – KCR had never let them away from his sight since then. He even took them to Munugode along with him and brought them back to confine them in Pragathi Bhavan. Though the MLAs were ‘displayed’ in the Munugode sabha and at Thursday’s press conference, none of them were allowed to speak. Is it because the MLAs might expose the truth?

Fifth, the CM had made a big issue of BJP leaders claiming to be in ‘touch’ with several MLAs from the TRS. What’s wrong with that? Haven’t leaders from all political parties – numbering in the dozens – joined the TRS since it came to power in 2014? How could that be possible without TRS & its leaders being in touch with them?

Sixth, if the CM truly believed there was a huge conspiracy by the BJP to destabilise opposition-ruled state governments across the country through illegal means, and that he had the proof, why not just request the Supreme Court to appoint an SC-monitored SIT (Special Investigation Team) probe so that cases across the country can be investigated?All told, Telangana people can’t be fooled by this farmhouse drama.

(The author is BJP TS spokesperson)