Dubbak BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao wrote three representations to the Telangana Chief Electoral officer (CEO) on Friday, October 13, alleging election malpractice on the part of the state government led by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Siddipet district.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, in his first letter to the CEO, alleged that despite Telangana Finance Minister Harish Rao’s misbehaviour, Siddipet Police Commissioner N Swetha did not accept a complaint filed by him (Raghunandan).
The BJP leader alleged that the Finance Minister, who is also the Siddipet MLA, along with BRS MP K Prabhakar Reddy, were responsible for instigating BRS workers who removed flexes installed by BJP of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The alleged misbehaviour is said to have taken place on October 3 during the inauguration of the Siddipet-Secunderabad train, where BRS and BJP workers clashed amid chants of ‘Harish Rao Zindabad’ and ‘Jai Modi’.
Raghunandan Rao also alleged that the Siddipet Commissioner accepted a ‘false complaint’ of SC/ST (Prevention) of Atrocities Act from a BRSV (Vidyarthi) worker. The MLA also alleged that Siddipet ACP Surender Reddy is shifted to other areas around election time but is eventually brought back to Siddipet each time. Rao said he has worked in Siddipet for 17 years out of his 20 years of service.
Accusing both the Police Commissioner and the ACP of working for BRS and Harish Rao, Raghunandan Rao asked the CEO to take action against the police officials in the interest of free and fair elections.
In his second letter, Raghunandan Rao alleged that N Yadagiri, once a tahsildar of Dundigal, had an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) case on him, which was dropped as he was the ‘benami of Harish Rao.’ He accused Yadagiri of distributing Rs 10,000 to owners and Rs 5,000 to teachers of private schools in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Dubbak town (which comes under Siddipet district). The BJP leader asked for Yadagiri, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) for Harish Rao, to be relieved of his duties as he was unduly influencing elections.
The BJP leader also accused government officers of distributing money to people under the guise of welfare schemes like Dalit Bandhu and BC Bandhu and not honouring the guidelines for these schemes. Raghunandan Rao expressed concern that the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), hailing from the same district (and representing Gajwel constituency), could heavily influence the state elections. Further, it is worth noting that the Dalit Bandhu scheme was halted on Tuesday, October 10 and the scheme’s second phase was also suspended due to the Model Code of Conduct coming into force. The Telangana Assembly elections are scheduled for November 30.