The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) claimed that the Telangana police arrested three people associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who tried to lure four of their MLAs - Rohith Reddy, Guvvala Balaraj, Harshavardhan Reddy and Rega Kantha Rao.

The meeting between the MLAs and the alleged BJP agents was held at a farmhouse in Aziznagar which falls under the Moinabad station limits.

According to Cyberabad Police Commissioner, Stephen Raveendra, the MLAs themselves alerted the police and subsequent to that a police team raided the farmhouse.

As per the complaint filed by the police, the MLAs were offered Rs 100 crore each to switch sides in addition to plum posts in the party and central government contracts.

MLA Rohit Reddy also said that they were warned of raids by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in case they did not defect to the BJP.

The three people arrested in the case have been identified as Ramachandra Bharti of Delhi, Nanda Kumar of Hyderabad and Simhayaji Swamy of Tirupati. Telangana Police have also said that a car with a lot of cash stashed in it has been found from near the farmhouse.

Cases have been filed against the three arrested persons under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 171-B (attempt to induce with bribe), 171-E (bribe), 506 (criminal intimidation) read with 34 (criminal act by several persons) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.

Recalling how a large number of Congress MLAs joined the TRS, Telangana Congress leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, said that TRS had started the “culture of buying MLAs” in the state and BJP is taking it forward.

BJP has called it as an operation orchestrated by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Both, Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said that the BJP does not need to buy any MLAs and they are confident of coming to power in Telangana in 2023. They said that by buying four MLA’s, the BJP would anyway not be able to topple the government.

In a setback to the TRS, The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Court judge dismissed the petition in which the police sought judicial remand of the accused, citing lack of evidence.

The judge asked the police to question the accused by serving notices under Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Meanwhile, the BJP has filed a writ petition in the Telangana High Court seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe or a transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).