The BJP may incite violence in Telangana on Monday, alleged KT Rama Rao, the Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS) working president and state Minister for IT on Sunday. His statement comes after a BJP party worker attempted to self-immolate before the BJP office on Sunday protesting against the arrest of state BJP president Bandi Sanjay by the Siddipet police.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner, the minister said that “Information from reliable sources point out that the BJP is preparing to blow up the alleged incident of attempted suicide by a BJP activist near the party’s state office in Nampally to create ruckus in the city. We have urged the Director-General of Police to ascertain facts," he wrote. The letter comes on the last day of campaigning for the Dubbaka bye-polls.
On Sunday, 25-year-old Srinivas of Yacharam mandal, self-immolated in protest against the arrest of Bandi Sanjay. The attempt was foiled by BJP cadre and police personnel. He was shifted to Osmania General Hospital and was visited by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy and later by Bandi Sanjay who reportedly stopped his last day of the campaign early, to visit the party worker. Srinivas was later shifted to Yashoda hospital, reported The New Indian Express.
The same day KTR alleged that the BJP intends to use the incident to incite violence in Hyderabad. The TRS working president said senior party leaders, MLAs, MLCs and MPs will meet the Telangana DGP, Election Commission of India officials and the Chief Election Officer of Telangana to seek action against the BJP. The police have also been directed to take stern action against anyone attempting to disrupt peace in the city.
The minister alleged that the BJP is resorting to such tactics since the attempts to buy voters with cash at the poll-bound Dubbaka constituency were foiled. "First it was Rs 40 lakh and then Rs 18 lakh meant for distribution in Dubbaka. After BJP failed in its nefarious plans to distribute money in Dubbaka, on Sunday Rs 1 crore hawala cash on its way to Dubbaka was seized by police,” wrote KTR.
The BJP had earlier alleged that the Siddipet police attacked their party candidate M Raghunandan Rao and BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar. KTR called these allegations a concocted story. Shortly after Rs 40 lakh was seized by the police, the BJP had claimed that the money was planted at the residence of the candidate’s family member. Police later released video footage taken when the cash was seized to debunk the allegations.
An instance was also reported where the BJP cadre members tried to steal the confiscated cash from the police. “The video released by the police clearly shows the lady of the house handing over the cash to police and confirming that the money was meant for distribution,” said KTR.
The TRS leader said officials with the Election commission searched the residences of sympathisers of both the BJP and TRS without bias. “BJP is planning to incite violence and create law and order issues in Telangana state in view of the upcoming Dubbaka Assembly constituency bye-election. I request you to kindly take necessary action to prevent any untoward or unwarranted incidents in the state of Telangana. A memorandum was also submitted to the Telangana DGP,” KTR was reported as saying by Telangana Today.