Telangana Bhavan, the BRS State headquarters, witnessed a dramatic shift on Thursday, after the ACB registered a case against party working president KT Rama Rao in connection with the Formula-E car race issue. By evening, cadre gathered at the premises in large numbers and raised slogans apart from burning an effigy of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
Bustling with BRS leaders till afternoon, the Telangana Bhavan premises witnessed a huge number of policemen arriving in the evening, leading to a tense atmosphere in the surrounding. At one point, policemen outnumbered the party cadre present at Telangana Bhavan. BRS leaders, including spokesperson Manne Krishank, questioned the heavy police presence, alleging intimidation of party activists. The police cited orders from superiors as the reason for their deployment.
Responding to the
developments, Rama Rao dared the Congress in the Assembly to conduct a discussion on the issue in the House and he was ready to clarify on the charges against him. Shortly thereafter, he went to Telangana Bhavan along with senior leaders including MLA T Harish Rao, MLC K Kavitha and others to address the media and clarify on the allegations.
The ACB has named Rama Rao as Accused No. 1 (A1), IAS officer Arvind Kumar as A2, and HMDA chief engineer BLN Reddy as A3 among the accused. They are facing allegations of misusing government funds under sections 13(1)A, 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, other relevation sections of BNSS.
After the news of the case being registered came out in the evening, BRS cadre thronged the premises of Telangana Bhavan in large numbers and raised slogans. They also burned an effigy of the Chief Minister.