KCR lambasts BJP, comes up with sensational proofs in MLAs' poaching; flays cheap tricks in Munugode

HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) on Thursday night made a sensational allegation that the BJP plotted to topple state governments in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan. He appealed to all the key constitutional functionaries including the CJI, judges of Supreme Court and high courts, chief ministers of all states and investigating agencies, besides the youth to uphold democracy by thwarting such devious moves.

Addressing a press conference at Pragathi Bhavan here, hours after the polling for the Munugode Assembly by-election ended, KCR made a scathing attack on the leaders of BJP for their brazen indulgence in smear campaign in Munugode. He also expressed his anguish and displeasure at the way politics of poaching and horse-trading were being vigorously practised in the country. "Energies are being invested more to topple democratically elected governments while completely shirking the constitutional responsibility to bring a positive change in the country through development and progress. These marauding elements working at the behest of power-mongers should be stopped in their stride," KCR said.

Referring to the recent expose of a failed poaching attempt by deal brokers from Delhi to lure lure a few TRS MLAs and engineer a split in the party, the Chief Minister played a few video clips in a damning evidence to expose the 'Operation Aakarsh'. He said that they were in the process of sharing a three-hour-long video footage as irrefutable evidence of the sensational bribery scandal with all the key constitutional functionaries and authorities to expose the covert attempt. He claimed that the poaching attempt, which he described as heinous organised crime, was carried out at the behest of a few Delhi bigwigs. "They brazenly claim (in the secretly recorded videos) that they are a big gang of deal brokers including so-called seers and heads of mutts. I appeal to the judiciary to not take this (MLAs poaching expose) as an one single case as the gang has its tentacles spread wide across the country," he claimed.

While lambasting the BJP, KCR made a fervent appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not turn a blind eye to the 'kaand' (toppling of governments) and put an end to this dangerous trend.

KCR Press Conference points live:

• I convened this press conference with a heavy heart and pain.
• I've been in public service for 50 years but it's heartbreaking to see the country's current situation and the death of democracy.
• It has been eight years since the BJP came to power and we can see the unemployment, excessive price increases and a plethora of other difficulties that citizens of this country are struggling with.
• It was shocking to see the BJP's attempts to win the Munugode by-election. They morphed photos of a Munugode Congress candidate Shravanti meeting me and scrolled them on news TV channels, which is quite disturbing.
• We will never consider doing what the BJP party has done in order to win the by-election. I call on the judiciary, the CBI, the ED, the Central Vigilance Commission, renowned media organisations, news agencies and other entities to investigate what had transpired. All proofs will be sent to Chief Justices of High Courts in India, as well as the Honourable Chief Justice of India and other Supreme Court judges.
• I'm sending proofs to all of the chief ministers of the country, as well as presidents of all political parties. The process of forwarding the proofs is on will be sent to all by tomorrow.
• I waited for the Munugode By-poll to end (to talk about this) since they will accuse us of attempting to influence the election.
• Last month, Ramachandra Bharathi visited here and met with our MLA Rohith Reddy, who notified us and the home minister. The footage is three hours long but we will only show you the excerpts from it.
• In the clips, the deal brokers claim they have power over ED and CID and say, "you are under the scanner". Who speaks in this manner? Someone from the BJP who is currently imprisoned also spoke with Tushar. While presenting a photo of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Tushar, KCR wondered, "Who would defend this country from such people?"
• They claimed to have brought down eight governments through organised crime. They claim to be a gang of 24 members. One of those arrested in the case spoke with Tushar, who contested against Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad of Kerala.
• During the farmhouse operation, the brokers allegedly stated that they had already toppled governments in eight states and claim that they would destabilise the governments of Delhi, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• Citizens and students must work together to save the country.
• I urge the judiciary, which has come to our rescue whenever democracy was in danger. I humbly urge the Supreme Court and high court judges to save democracy.
• A total of three hours of video footage of the BJP poaching TRS MLAs was submitted to the court, which was trimmed down to 70 minutes for everyone's convenience and will now be released to the entire media.
• If it is a sitting MLA, the BJP is willing to invest anything. They claim to have done it earlier as well. They even provide security. The Indian government is subject to extra-constitutional forces.
• CM KCR declares that this video should be viewed by everyone in the country and that it was already being sent to everyone while playing one during the press conference.
• KCR begins playing secretly recorded video clips of the deal brokers negotiating MLAs' poaching with Rohit Reddy.
• While playing a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly admitting that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party MLAs were in contact with him, KCR said that it sprung up the question as to what the subordinates would do if the leader himself was like that.
• Will die for the country if necessary but will not condone this kind of assault on democracy and its spirit; I don't believe that no one, including journalists, should tolerate it.
• Playing video evidence of a conversation between the three accused and four TRS MLAs, KCR claims that the trio including Amit Shah, JP Nadda, and BL Santosh were behind the plot to lure MLAs.
• When democracy was threatened, the judiciary rushed to our rescue. That is what transpired in the Allahabad case. I humbly pray to the Indian judiciary to save democracy. If the fabric of democracy is disturbed, people will lose faith in it. Every democrat has a responsibility to save our country.
• This is an organised and heinous crime which should not be tolerated.
• I request the Prime Minister, to whom I'm a political colleague, I requested you before and renew the appeal to stop these devious acts, which endanger democracy in the country.
• I'm sending all of the proofs to everyone in the country for a very legitimate reason. I have submitted all of the evidence to the High Court and Supreme Court. When the phones were seized and their phone database was seized, it was discovered that this has been going on for a long time and is not the first time they have done so.
• I would like to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi that I am also your political colleague. In addition, I hold a constitutional position. I have already suggested this and will do so again. Please put an end to this murder of democracy; it belittles your position and tarnishes your reputation. What else do you want as a two-time Prime Minister?
• We cannot survive for 1,000 years, no matter how powerful we are. How appropriate is it to launch such a covert attack in the name of your Home Minister?
• If MLAs, MPs are worried about saving their positions, who will work for the development of the country?
• The attempts to topple democratically-elected governments should be stopped as they are curtailing the progress of the country.
• This is what our freedom fighters who battled for democracy wanted. I urge everyone to rise above it and save democracy. We can only progress if democracy is robust.
• I request the judiciary, which had delivered monumental verdicts, to focus on clipping the wings of these rampaging conspirators who are trying to topple state governments at will.
• We have call data, laptop data and recordings -- dating back to 2015 -- of these three people speaking to all BJP bigwigs. If you write it down, it will take 70,000 to 80,000 pages.