No coal block behind Rajgopal Reddy joining BJP: Vivek Venkatswamy

Hyderabad: Refuting the statement of TRS(now BRS) working president and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao that the BJP’s Munugode candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy had joined the BJP in a quid pro quo deal after being allocated a coal block by the Centre, BJP leader Vivek Venkatswamy claimed that Rajgopal Reddy’s company had bagged the coal […]

Hyderabad: Refuting the statement of TRS(now BRS) working president and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao that the BJP’s Munugode candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy had joined the BJP in a quid pro quo deal after being allocated a coal block by the Centre, BJP leader Vivek Venkatswamy claimed that Rajgopal Reddy’s company had bagged the coal block mining contract through a global tender called for by Coal India and not as a reward for joining BJP.

Speaking to media here on Saturday, Venkatswamy said as per the Supreme Court guidelines, Coal India had invited a global tender and Rajgopal’s company offered a competitive price for the coal block and bagged the contract.

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Accusing the ruling party of misusing official machinery to influence voters, the BJP leader said TRS MPs and MLAs were assigned booths to exert pressure on people to vote for the party candidate.

“When the entire peoples’ representatives of the ruling party are camping in Munugode, naturally officials will be under pressure to favour the ruling party candidate. They did the same during Dubbaka and Huzurabad by-polls and they will be doing it in Munugode too,” he alleged, adding that the BJP would take the matter with the Election Commission to depute a central observer for the Munugode by-poll.