Poachgate case: Master poacher BRS bought 37 MLAs in 8 years, says BJP

HYDERABAD: The Poachgate accused and BJP on Friday dubbed the BRS government as master of poaching while pooh-poohing its argument that the accused and BJP had tried to poach its MLAs.
Arguing before a bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji, three senior advocates DV Sitarama Murthy, L Ravichander and C Damodar Reddy said that BRS has no moral right to speak about destruction of democracy as it had poached as many as 37 MLAs of other parties in the last eight years.

Murthy and Ravichander are representing accused Ramachandra Bharathi, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji who were arrested from the Moinabad farmhouse of MLA Pilot Rohith Reddy in October last year. Damodar Reddy is representing the BJP.
The lawyers for the accused said that between 2014 and 2018, the BRS 'purchased' 24 MLAs elected from Congress, BSP, TDP and YSRCP, while after 2018 polls it poached 12 Congress MLAs and one MLA from All India Forward Bloc.
They also said that in the current Poachgate case where attempts were allegedly made to lure four MLAs into BJP, three are originally from Congress. Even the complainant Pilot Rohith Reddy is from Congress who never reveals the fact that he was poached by BRS. He has no moral right to speak about poaching, they added.
They also refuted the allegation that the single judge passed orders without hearing Rohith. "Rohith chose to appear before the court and even filed his counter which was considered by the single judge. And, hence, he cannot complain about his version not being heard or not being given notice," the lawyers said.
Appearing for BJP, counsel Damodar Reddy said that they have nothing to do with the three accused arrested in the case and wondered if they were also part of the pre-planned trap laid by the state. "They were seen making loud claims about their links with big people in Delhi. This was done only to defame BJP," he said.
The court room reverberated with laughter when Chief Justice Bhuyan sought to know from Damodar Reddy why the state filed an appeal against dismissal of BJP's petition by the single judge.
"It is BJP which should be aggrieved by the single judge decision when its plea was dismissed as not maintainable. Why was it that the state chose to file an appeal? As BJP counsel you should ask the state as to why it filed their appeal," the CJ said.
As the laughter subsided, advocate general BS Prasad explained the state's position: "As the BJP's plea had sought a SIT probe, we are saying that the single judge should have recorded the fact that the BJP demand was met by the state which set up a SIT. The judge, however, dismissed the BJP plea by merely saying it is not maintainable."
Refuting allegations that they had destabilised governments in several states by poaching MLAs, Damodar Reddy said that BJP never purchased any legislator as they had joined on their own. The arguments will continue on Monday.