A family Diwali gathering was “maliciously labelled a ‘rave party'” Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader KT Rama Rao said Monday afternoon, hitting back hard in the row over police raids – and questioning claims about the use of narcotics when none were found – on his brother-in-law’s ‘farmhouse’.
Cyberabad cops said they seized stocks of foreign liquor and that one party-goer – Vijay Madduri – among the 30-odd who were present at the gathering had tested positive for cocaine.
KT Rama Rao, however, slammed the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for “speaking recklessly” and claimed “after officials stated no drugs were found”. “So why this malicious campaign?” he asked, “… Pakala’s test was negative but BJP and Congress are spreading baseless rumors about him. How can they file a case under NDPS (the anti-narcotics law)?”
“First they said it was an excise case… for possessing more alcohol… but then they started calling it a ‘narcotics case’. They are labeling it a narcotics case only on orders from above…”
“How was there a difference between the morning’s panchanama (cops’ record of the raid) and the police case? They dug a mountain… claiming there were bombs but didn’t even find a mouse.”
READ | ‘Farmhouse’ Of Relative Of Former Telangana Minister KTR Raided
Pakala has been charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Gaming Act, while Mr Rama Rao and BRS leaders have criticised the attempted “character assassination”.
“In Telangana today, is it wrong for a family to have a gathering at home for Diwali? Should we seek permission even for that? Raj Pakala built a house and had a housewarming ceremony for family and friends… but some people are maliciously labeling this family gathering as a ‘rave party’,” KTR said.
Attacking the Congress – which thumped the BRS in last year’s election – for running a “malicious campaign and political conspiracy”, KTR also said “we won’t stop fighting for the people… even if it costs our lives”. “Cases and government conspiracies are nothing new to us…” he said, hitting out at Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s “corruption (and) illegal activities, and failures”.
“Despite no illegal activities on our part there is a malicious campaign and political conspiracy against us by the (state) government… BRS leaders are being slapped with false cases for exposing Revanth’s corrupt activities, like the civil supplies scam and the Musi River rejuvenation project.”
“Unable to confront us politically, they (the Congress) resort to conspiracies, but we have braved challenges and have been in this struggle. We are not afraid of Revanth Reddy’s plots…”
“Since yesterday there has been an absurd attempt to conspire against us.”
Meanwhile, in a complicated game of political musical chairs, the ruling Congress has also come under fire from the BJP for “pretending” to enforce anti-drugs laws while protecting BRS leaders.
The BRS vs BJP vs Congress three-way free-for-all has also seen the former allege “match-fixing” by the other two to target the state outfit.
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