Alleti Maheshwar Reddy.
Credit: X/@maheshreddy_bjp
Hyderabad: BJP’s legislature party leader in Telangana Alleti Maheshwar Reddy created a flutter on Saturday claiming that at least five ministers in A Revanth Reddy’s Cabinet and a few Congress MLAs are in touch with the BJP’s leadership and if they wish to destabilise the Congress government, they can do it in 48 hours.
He said the state’s R&B Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who is a known bête noire of Revanth Reddy, had already conveyed to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari that he can become the ‘Ekanth Shinde’ of Telangana and join the BJP. However, Maheshwar Reddy claimed Gadkari had declined Venkat Reddy’s offer.
The trigger for Maheshwar Reddy’s remarks was that Venkat Reddy, two days ago, said that BJP’s eight MLAs in Telangana are ready to join the Congress.
“If the Congress touches one BJP MLA, its government in Telangana will collapse within 48 hours. At least five Cabinet ministers are waiting to capture the chief minister’s chair if Revanth Reddy loses it and are in touch with the BJP central leadership. But BJP believes in democracy and doesn’t believe in dethroning a democratically elected government. In the past two instances, BJP asked either Eatala Rajender or Komatiredy Rajagopal Reddy to first resign as MLAs and then join us,” Maheshwar Reddy told reporters on Saturday.
Maheshwar Reddy’s remarks come at a time when there have been defections and desertion of leaders from one party to another, especially a race between BJP and Congress in wooing BRS leaders and elected representatives.
Maheshwar Reddy also said that Revanth Reddy has been collecting money from Telangana and sending it to Delhi to be spent by the Congress across the country on elections.
The then BRS government, based on a purported sting operation, registered a case accusing BJP’s general secretary and party’s pointsman in the south, BL Santosh, of attempting to poach MLAs to dethrone the government.