Telangana MLA poaching row: Accused BJP member's leaked audio clip goes viral

HYDERABAD: Even as the BJP denied the TRS allegation of Operation Lotus to lure its MLAs, an alleged telephonic conversation between the pink party's legislator Pilot Rohith Reddy and Ramachandra Bharathi, a priest from Faridabad, Haryana hit the airwaves this afternoon.

The audio that is being widely circulated on social media and repeatedly played on vernacular channels took the political temperature in the State a few notches up. In the audio (authenticity is yet to be established) Ramachandra Bharathi could be heard proposing a meeting in Hyderabad to rope TRS MLAs into the BJP. He could also be heard dropping the names of top BJP leaders also referring to another accused in the case, Nandakumar.

Ramachandra Bharathi also mentions the protocol of RSS and assures of a meeting with a top BJP leader, deputed from the RSS to the BJP. In this alleged conversation, the MLA could be heard airing his fears and seeking confidentiality to which, the priest gives his assurance, their earlier citing experience in West Bengal.

Reacting to the audio tape, TRS leader and Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy said: "We will expose the BJP before the people. The downfall of BJP will start with the results of the Munugode Assembly bypoll".

Meanwhile, the ACB court on Thursday night rejected the request of the Moinabad police to remand the three accused in the alleged horse-trading case. Following this, the police moved to the High Court today challenging the decision of the ACB court. It may be mentioned here that the Moinabad police had arrested three persons --- Ramachandra Baharathi, Nandakumar and Simhayaji, a pontiff from Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh -- on Wednesday night at a farmhouse in Moinabad.

Top BJP leaders including Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy and BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar alleged that it was a drama enacted by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to win the Munugode by-poll scheduled on November 3.

Kishan Reddy demanded that a CBI probe or an enquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court be ordered to unravel the truth behind the entire episode.