Hyderabad: Demanding that IT minister K.T. Rama Rao withdraw the legal notice served on him on March 28, PCC chief A. Revanth Reddy warned that he would otherwise be compelled to initiate appropriate civil and criminal proceedings.
Rao had threatened to file a Rs. 100 crore defamation suit against the Congress leader for his statements on the TSPSC question paper leakage.
The reply sent to the minister by Reddy’s advocate found the allegations to be “defamatory” as well as “baseless, malicious and politically motivated in order to extort, harass and silence” Rama Rao. The TPCC chief alleged that Rao was adopting tactics which would have a bearing on political democracy.
Revanth Reddy’s counsel said in the reply to the notice: “As a representative of the Opposition, it is my client's duty to ensure accountability of the ruling party. Your client cannot wash his hands off when being questioned by people in general and the opposition in particular. In fact, if the ruling party is limiting the scope of investigation with highhandedness, then it is most necessary for my client to strive for checks and balances and raise the demand for fair investigation continuously in public interest.”
“My client states that there is an active role of your client in influencing not only the investigation but also the public discourse around the current crisis through press conferences. Your client has time and again tried to divert the narrative from the systemic failure caused due to collusive and corrupt functioning of the state institutions and the need of an unbiased investigation to a mistake by two employees, thereby making low level employees scapegoats,” the notice adds.
It may be recalled that Rao had sent legal notices to Reddy and state BJP president, Bandi Sanjay Kumar following their allegations against him in the TSPSC paper leak issue.
