Congress government resorting to political witch-hunt in Telangana: KTR

Hyderabad, Oct (IANS) Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao (KTR) on Sunday accused the Congress-led Telangana government of resorting to a political witch-hunt and implicating family members of his party leaders in false cases as it is "unable to face them politically".

He told media persons on Sunday night that the Congress was trying to silence BRS leaders' voices through harassment and vowed to continue the fight against what he called the "failures and corruption" of the government.

Stating that BRS emerged from a movement and has a history of struggle, KTR said: "False cases, sending them (party leaders) to jail and such cheap tactics can't force them to give up the fight."

He was reacting to cases registered against his brother-in-law Raj Pakala after a raid by police and Excise Department officials on his farmhouse at Janwada near Hyderabad on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

The BRS leader slammed the Congress for "trying to defame them by calling it a rave party" and claimed that it was a get-together of family members and friends organised by Raj Pakala as he recently shifted to a new house. He disputed the police version that it was a farmhouse, claiming that from children as young as two years to 70-year-old women were present at the get-together.

KTR said while excise officials went on record before the media that no drugs were found, by evening a case under the NDPS Act was registered.

He said all 14 men present there were tested for drugs and one of them tested positive. "Police should find out where he consumed the drugs," he said and mentioned that his brother-in-law tested negative.

KTR alleged that the Revanth Reddy government is trying to demoralise BRS leaders and mentally trouble them by harassing their family members in an attempt to suppress their voices. "We want to make it clear that we will not stop the fight against the government's failures to honour its promises and its corruption," he said.

He further claimed that for the last 11 months, the BRS had been fighting against the "failures of the Congress government, exposing it before the people for not implementing the six guarantees and many other promises, involvement of the Chief Minister's family members in the AMRUT scam and the Musi scam".