MLAs poaching case: Telangana BJP chief swears to no involvement at Yadadri temple

Hyderabad, Oct 28:  Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay on Friday swore at Yadadri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple that his party is not involved in the attempt to "buy" MLAs of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Sanjay, along with scores of BJP leaders, reached the shrine at Yadagirigutta and swore at the feet of the deity in the presence of priests, claiming that his party is in no way involved in "MLAs poaching" case.

He dared Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to come to the temple to swear that he had not scripted the poaching drama.

He had earlier asked the TRS chief to fix the date and time. Since there was no reaction from the TRS leader, Sanjay announced that he will visit the temple on Friday to take the pledge.

Sanjay, who is also a Member of Parliament, left for the temple from Munugode where he was campaigning for the November 3 by-election.

Police had made tight security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident. There were speculations that he may be arrested by the police on the way to the temple but he was not stopped.

However, supporters of the ruling party took out a rally in Yadagirigutta urging Bandi Sanjay not to spoil the sanctity of the Yadadri Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple by visiting it for political challenges.

More than a thousand TRS activists participated in the rally holding black flags and raising slogans "Bandi Sanjay down down" and "Go back Bandi Sanjay".

After taking the pledge at the temple, Sanjay alleged that the TRS made a false allegation to tarnish the image of the BJP. He termed it a conspiracy by the TRS in view of Munugode by-election.

The BJP leader also alleged that the TRS resorted to the cheap tactic due to fear of defeat in the by-election. He said despite all the conspiracies by the TRS, the BJP will win the by-election with a huge majority.

The MP said the TRS made the allegation without any evidence. "It did not even produce any evidence in the court," he said referring to the court order refusing remand for the three accused arrested in the case.

Sanjay demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the case to bring out the truth. He said the BJP had already approached the High Court seeking CBI investigation.

Cyberabad police had arrested three alleged agents of BJP from a farmhouse near Hyderabad on Wednesday night while they were trying to lure four MLAs of TRS with offers of huge sums of money.

Ramachandra Bharati of Delhi, Nanda Kumar of Hyderabad, and Simhayaji Swamy of Tirupati were arrested by the police during the raid conducted following a tip-off of TRS MLA Pilot Rohit Reddy.

In his complaint to police, Rohit Reddy alleged that they offered Rs 100 crore to him and Rs 50 crore each to three other MLAs.

The police produced the accused before a judge at his residence on Thursday night with a petition to remand them to judicial custody.

The judge, however, rejected the police petition, citing lack of evidence. He observed that the Prevention of Corruption Act does not apply to the case as there is no evidence of bribe money.

The judge told police to issue notices to the accused under Section 41 of Criminal Procedure Code for questioning.

On the judge's orders, police released all the three accused. They were subsequently issued notices directing them to appear before police within 24 hours. The police also moved the Telangana High Court challenging the order of the lower court.