Hyderabad: Sunday’s alleged ‘cash for vote’ scam involving TD senior MLA A. Revanth Reddy took a political turn with party chief and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu deciding to wage a political fight against the TRS government. The party decided to back Mr Revanth Reddy both legally and politically.
Mr Naidu met TS TD leaders after the arrest, and told them to continue the fight against the TRS by involving other parties. He asked them to fully support Mr Revanth Reddy. The TRS leadership has decided to encash on the episode by projecting the TD as a corrupt party and trying to project Mr Naidu as being behind the incident.
The case-for-vote incident comes as a setback for the party, which was trying to win a seat in the MLC polls. The party had relied completely on Mr Revanth Reddy to nominate Mr Vem Narender Reddy for the poll and denying renomination of Mr Arikala Narsa Reddy.
Watch: Telugu Desam MLA Revanth Reddy caught in cash for vote scam
The TD alleged that Mr Revanth Reddy was being targeted as he was waging a war against Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his family both inside and outside the Assembly. He had also filed a number of cases in courts, including on the appointment of parliamentary secretaries.
Mr Revanth Reddy had made certain remarks against a Dalit MLA from the TRS and Nizamabad MP K. Kavita, the daughter of the Chief Minister. The TRS had made it a point not to allow him to speak in the House in the previous Assembly session till he unconditionally apologised.
In the recent Budget Session earlier this year too, Mr Revanth Reddy could not speak as all TD MLAs were suspended for the rest of the session on the very first day.
Mr Revanth Reddy started his political career with the TRS and was one of the confidants of Mr Chandrasekhar Rao for some time before he joined the TD. He is facing a criminal defamation case filed by Mr J. Rameswara Rao of My Home Group after alleging that the builder had secured favours from the Chief Minister.
