I-T raids on BRS leaders conducted: Politically motivated, says Medak MP

I-T department sleuths onconducted searches at commercial establishments linked to BRS MLAs Pailla Shekhar Reddy (Bhongir) and M Janardhan Reddy (Nagarkurnool) and Medak MP K Prabhakar Reddy

Hyderabad/Medak/Yadadri-Bhongir: Income Tax department sleuths on Wednesday conducted searches at commercial establishments linked to BRS MLAs Pailla Shekhar Reddy (Bhongir) and M Janardhan Reddy (Nagarkurnool) and Medak MP K Prabhakar Reddy here.

According to sources, I-T officials conducted searches to verify tax payments of the firms belonging to the MLAs and the MP.

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Meanwhile, speaking to the media, Prabhakar Reddy termed the raids ‘politically motivated’.

“The searches are to tarnish the image of the BRS party before the elections. All our businesses are open and clean,” he said. Stating that his life was an open book, the MP said I-T officials, who reached his home on Wednesday morning, were welcomed and guided around by his daughter without any hurdles. Calling his business transactions transparent, Reddy said his company had paid GST, Income Tax and other taxes following the guidelines.

He had no investments in foreign companies or collaborations with any foreign companies. Saying that he was just owning a multi-national transportation company, the MP said the raid was just intended to malign his image. He had never got any notice from the I-T department, but the I-T officials had raided his house without any clear explanation for the raid, he said, adding that some television channels were also carrying misleading information on the raid.

“The people of Telangana can easily understand why the I-T raids are being carried out at a time when the elections were approaching,” he said.

Meanwhile, Protesting against the I-T raids on the house and offices belongs to Shekar Reddy, BRS activists on Wednesday staged protest demonstrations and burnt the effigy of the BJP government across Bhongir assembly constituency. The BRS members staged protest demonstrations at Boodhan Pochampally, Bhongir and other place by raising slogans against the Narendra Modi government.

BRS district president and TS Oil Fed Chairman Kancherla Rama Krishna Reddy said that the BJP government was intentionally ordering I-T and ED raids on the houses and companies owned by leaders of opposition parties to trigger panic. He suspected a political conspiracy in the I-T raids.