The Telangana police on Wednesday claimed that they busted an attempt by three people who were allegedly trying to lure four ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLAs to leave the party.
Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Raveendra told reporters that the TRS legislators provided information to them that the trio were trying to entice them with several offers.
The police official said the four TRS MLAs -- G Balaraju, B Harshavardhan Reddy, R Kantha Rao and Rohith Reddy -- were allegedly being offered cash, posts and other incentives to switch loyalties.
"We are inquiring into details like which party the three persons belong to," Raveendra told PTI. However, Government Whip Balka Suman alleged that it is the handiwork of the BJP which is trying to lure TRS legislators. "TRS party MLAs are soldiers of KCR and representatives of Telangana's self-respect has been proved once again," he said on his Twitter handle.
Telangana ministers and leaders of ruling TRS staged protests in different parts of the state on Wednesday night to protest against what they called an attempt by the BJP to buy TRS MLAs. TRS leaders staged a dharna at Choutuppal near Hyderabad on Vijayawada highway. Ministers Gangula Kamalakar and Indrakaran Reddy participated in the protest.
The protesters raised slogans against BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They alleged that the saffron party was trying to pull down the TRS government by luring its MLAs with offers of money and posts.
The protest led to a traffic jam on Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway. Similar protests were organised by the ruling party leaders in other districts.
Published 26 October 2022, 17:20 IST