A. Revanth Reddy | Photo Credit:
Declaring that he will not be scared by the notices from Delhi Police on a case related to the ‘doctored’ video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said the BJP government is trying to intimidate people who question them on social media.
“No one will be scared here. We will reply to the notices. In the coming elections, we will defeat Narendra Modi and Amit Shah in Telangana and Karnataka. Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari has stirred the emotions of people and they want to defeat the divisive forces,” he said.
Mr. Reddy made these comments while addressing a public meeting at Sedam in Karnataka on Monday evening. He was not in Hyderabad when the notices were sent.
The Chief Minister alleged that it was the turn of Delhi Police to target the political opponents after the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Income Tax (IT) under directions from the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was now turning to Delhi Police as well to win the elections, he alleged. Despite such moves, he said the Congress was confident of forming the government at the Centre.
Response from the CMO
Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said that the Chief Minister was in Karnataka in an election campaign and they would not be able to comment on whether he would appear for investigation on May 1 as sought by the Delhi Police. “We will respond once the Chief Minister returns,” the source said.
Congress Legal Cell incharge Ramachandra Reddy said that an Inspector from Delhi Police, Neeraj Chaudhary visited Gandhi Bhavan to serve notices on the party social media warriors Manne Satish, Shiva Kumar and Asma Tasleem. “We sought 15 days time to respond to the notices and after studying the FIR in detail we will respond,” he said.
Meanwhile, several Congress leaders condemned the notices to the Chief Minister and said this intimidation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government would not be tolerated by the Telangana people. They described the notices as an assault on the Telangana people.
Delegation meets CEO
A delegation of the Election Management Committee consisting of former MLCs Dileep Kumar and Ramulu Naik, former Minister Pushpaleela and senior leaders M. Vinod Reddy, Kathi Venkataswamy and Divyavani met the Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj and submitted a memorandum to him seeking free and fair elections in view of the notices served on the Chief Minister.
