RS Praveen Kumar hits out at Congress for targeting Harish Rao

BRS leader RS Praveen Kumar stated that Harish Rao was targeted with corruption and phone tapping charges, only because he was cornering the government on people's iussues.

Hyderabad: BRS leader RS Praveen Kumar criticised the Congress government for misusing power to target former Minister T Harish Rao with illegal cases. He said intoxicated by electoral success, the Congress leaders were engaging in political vendetta instead of governance.

Speaking at Telangana Bhavan on Friday, Praveen Kumar stated that a criminal named Chakradhar, a close associate of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, had filed a fabricated case against Harish Rao at the Panjagutta police station, alleging that his phone was tapped during the BRS regime. He stated that Harish Rao was targeted with corruption and phone tapping charges, only because he was cornering the government on people’s iussues.

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“Harish Rao, a seven-time MLA from Siddipet, has served Telangana with dedication, especially during Covid-19 as the then Health Minister. Unlike Revanth Reddy, who was involved in the Cash-for-Vote scam, Harish Rao has never been linked to corruption. But multiple cases are being filed against him, on one pretext or another. Revanth Reddy is keen to implicate Harish Rao to silence him, which is not possible,” he asserted.

The former IPS officer said the police officials were acting as pawns of the ruling party. He charged DCP SM Vijay Kumar of pressuring individuals to implicate Harish Rao, citing the alleged torture of Vamsi Krishna, a former associate of Harish Rao, in the phone-tapping case. He observed that senior police officers were bending to political pressure and suggested that such officers should resign if they could not act independently.

Pointing out Chakradhar’s criminal background, he stated that there were numerous cases against him, including sexual assault, fraud involving 1,900 job aspirants, and kidnapping among others. Despite a previous High Court writ being withdrawn, an FIR was swiftly filed against Harish Rao within hours of Chakradhar’s fresh complaint.

Praveen Kumar also condemned the selective policing, stating that complaints against Congress leaders were ignored, while BRS leaders like Kaushik Reddy and Erolla Srinivas were being falsely implicated. He urged the DGP to provide additional security to Harish Rao and others who were named in the phone-tapping case, citing life threats from Congress leaders. “The police should realise that Revanth Reddy will not remain in power forever. BRS is ready to face any politically motivated cases,” he warned.