Hyderabad: BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao dubbed the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate to party MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha, his sister, in the Delhi liquor scam as “Modi summons.”
Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan on Thursday, Rama Rao said, “They are not ED summons but Modi summons as part of BJP-led government at the Centre’s ploy to harass opposition parties. We will not run away like BJP’s B.L.Santosh in BRS MLAs poaching case. We will face ED and other central agencies as we have total faith in the country’s judicial system.”
He charged the BJP with using central investigating agencies such as the CBI, I-T department and the ED as “tools to threaten, harass, and demoralise the political opponents” as well as undermine democracy.
“The BJP government at the Centre has already ordered raids on a dozen BRS leaders so far including ministers, MLAs, MLCs, and MPs. We know that this will not end with Kavitha’s summons. They will target more BRS leaders in the coming days. This is nothing but political witch-hunting. We will face them and fight against them through political and legal means,” Rama Rao said.
He pointed out that the ED had filed 5,422 cases since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014 but secured conviction in only 23 cases. He said 23 cases were booked on Congress leaders, 19 on TMC, 11 on NCP and six each on DMK and BJD, five each on RJD, BSP and SP, three each on AAP, YSRC and INLD, two on CPI(M) and now the BRS was added to the list.
“The meagre conviction rate proves that the BJP government is filing cases only to harass opposition parties. Why are there no cases against BJP leaders,” he asked.
The prime charge of the ED in Delhi liquor scam was that the policy was brought to favour somebody. “If that was so, then why was it not applied in the case of the BJP government handing over six airports to Adani Group by changing the policy limiting two ports to any business group, and even after the issue was red-flagged by the Finance ministry and Niti Aayog? Why was it not applied when the coal policy was changed to benefit Adani Group by forcing states to purchase imported coal for power plants from Adani mines in other countries,” Rama Rao questioned.
He alleged that the industrialist Gautam Adani was the ‘benami’ of PM Modi adding that it was not said by an individual but the Sri Lankan government itself. “Recently, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister went on record stating that Adani Group’s investments in Sri Lanka were a G2G (government to government) deal.
“A Rs 6,000-crore project was given to the Adani Group with the recommendation of Modi. It’s a G2G (Gautam2Gotabaya) deal mediated by Modi,” Rama Rao remarked, referring to then Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Rama Rao accused the PM of tweaking policies in favour of Adani Group to get contracts.
“The group, in turn, was funding the BJP in the form of bonds or other means to help win elections directly or indirectly by buying MLAs and toppling democratically elected non-BJP governments. The BJP had already toppled nine democratically elected governments since 2014,” he alleged.
Rama Rao threatened to impose a ban on a vernacular newspaper and a TV channel. He lost his cool when the reporter of a vernacular channel questioned him on Kavitha’s role and shot back: “In Gujarat where there is prohibition, 42 people
died due to consumption of spurious liquor. Do you call it a scam or BJP’s scheme? Can your channel show it? Do you have the guts to show it or report it? We know what dramas your channel and newspaper are enacting. We also know when to ban your channel and paper and other BJP mouthpieces,” he said.
Journalist unions such as Telangana Working Journalists Federation (TWJF) strongly condemned Rama Rao’s remarks and demanded that he withdraw them unconditionally.
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