Hyderabad: BRS deputy floor leader and former minister T Harish Rao on Tuesday said the SIT notice and questioning was only a drama to divert attention from Singareni coal tender issue. He said arrests and cases were not new to him and BRS leaders. Harish said he considered such notices as recognition of his public struggle, and the people of Telangana were watching everything. He dared the state govt to order an inquiry into the alleged coal scam by a sitting high court judge and said he was ready to provide all evidence on the role of some people.“Under K Chandrasekhar Rao’s leadership, the party leaders fought the Telangana movement and faced hundreds of cases. We are not leaders who run away when notices are issued,” he said, after attending the SIT questioning in the phone tapping case on Tuesday evening.
Harish Rao said during the questioning, police officers asked meaningless and repeated questions and empty narratives. He stated that during the inquiry, officers repeatedly stepped out after receiving phone calls and returned to ask same set of questions.“There was nothing new in the questioning. The only doubt is whether the calls came from Revanth Reddy or from Hyderabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar,” the BRS deputy floor leader remarked.Harish Rao said that after exposing the chief minister’s relative’s role in the Singareni tender issue in the morning, he was served SIT notices by evening on Monday. The ex-minister said that internal disputes between ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka over tenders came out in the open. He recalled that attempts were earlier made to implicate him by spending crores in private cases, which were later dismissed by high court and the Supreme Court.“When we questioned loan waiver, cases were filed. When we spoke on crop failures, cases were filed. When we visited flood victims, cases were filed. This has become your pattern,” he said. Harish Rao said that when he exposed the hollowness of the Ghose Commission on the Kaleshwaram probe with evidence in the assembly, fresh notices were issued against him.“Instead of fulfilling promises made to people, the govt has plunged into scams and corruption. Intimidation tactics are being used because KTR and BRS leaders are questioning them,” he alleged.He declared that no matter how many conspiracies or cases were filed against him, his voice would continue to roar for the people of Telangana. Harish said he was always ready to cooperate with any lawful inquiry, as he respected the judiciary. “But I have no respect for your petty politics,” he added.The BRS leader concluded by stating that BRS would return to power, and a full investigation into the Singareni coal scam would be conducted. “Every rupee involved in corruption will be recovered,” Harish Rao asserted.
