PNS | Hyderabad
The TRS seems to have cracked the BJP’s playbook when it comes to elections or raids by Central agencies. This is evident from the minor amounts being seized from superrich TRS Ministers. No huge seizures of money have been reported in the raids conducted so far.
The public was surprised that the money seized by the IT department amounts to just around Rs 6 crore. However, Minister Malla Reddy said it is only a few lakhs. In TRS circles, the buzz is next who. Sources say that a close aide of KCR who owns educational institutions is on the ED radar and will be raided soon.
Malla Reddy said that they were regularly told to prepare for raids. He said that this will continue for the next three months. Talasani Srinivas Yadav also put up a brave face. KCR had advised his party leaders on many occasions to be prepared for ED raids and to counterattack if IT or ED officials raid them. Malla Reddy put it into practice by filing a countercase when the IT department filed a case against him.
Political analysts believe that the BJP gave ample time to TRS leaders to protect themselves and their assets. None of the raids was a surprise for the TRS leaders as they knew it was coming. Sources said the party also knew who the potential targets were and in which form the raids would happen.It is too early to say how this will impact the next Assembly elections, TRS sources said.
In fact, Industries Minister KT Rama Rao spoke about the BJP playbook during a media interaction and said that they can counter it.“They will try to dent our vote bank, create communal tensions, religious polarization and make non-issues take centre stage. This is their playbook, they did it in West Bengal,” KTR said. He said that the BJP’s playbook worked in WB as they got 20 seats.
“The BJP knows that they cannot come to power immediately in Telangana. Their game plan is to come second. They will fire these arrows and try out Hindutva tactics. They will use the RSS, the VHP, and the Bajrang Dal. Fortunately, we have Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao as our leader. He is a much better strategist than them,” KTR said.
