Harish Rao appears in defamation case over ‘black magic’ allegations against him

BRS leader T Harish Rao recorded his statement before a Nampally court in a defamation case against Congress leaders B Mahesh Kumar Goud and Addanki Dayakar over alleged black magic remarks. The court will record their statements on September 30.

Hyderabad: BRSLP deputy floor leader T Harish Rao appeared before the Nampally People’s Representatives Court on Thursday and recorded his statement in the defamation case he filed against Congress MLCs B Mahesh Kumar Goud and Addanki Dayakar over allegations that he performed black magic rituals.

The court had accepted his petition and the matter would come up again on September 30 for recording statements of Mahesh Kumar Goud and Dayakar.

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Speaking to media on the occasion, Harish Rao said the defamation case was filed with evidence and warned that he would pursue legal action against those making such baseless allegations. “If they spread false propaganda about black magic against me, we will drag them to court. Whoever they are, we will not spare them,” he asserted.

The BRSLP deputy leader charged the Congress leaders with making the accusations to divert attention from public issues and questions over the government’s manifesto promises. “There cannot be more degrading politics or more degrading comments,” he said.

He also criticised the government over the pending Assembly privileges complaints and the failure to appoint a Deputy Speaker even 33 months after the Assembly was constituted.

Reacting to the Supreme Court judgment upholding Danam Nagender’s disqualification, Harish Rao termed it a slap to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, accusing the latter of encouraging defections. He said the judgment exposed attempts to protect defectors and asserted that similar consequences would follow for the other MLAs who had switched parties.