CM Reddy accuses BRS leaders of occult rituals, triggering crisis in Telangana

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday stepped up his attack on the BRS, alleging that its leaders had performed occult rituals to discredit the Congress government and questioning why they had kept their temple visits secret.

Without naming BRS MLA T Harish Rao, Reddy said a former minister had visited temples in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to perform occult rituals, allegedly seeking drought, farmers' distress and the collapse of the Congress government.

“Why did you not share details of your temple visits to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on social media or anywhere else? Why did you keep them a secret?” he asked while addressing a public meeting after launching the distribution of smart PDS ration cards in Sangareddy town.

Reddy said Harish Rao should share details of the temples he had visited and the occult rituals he allegedly performed.

BRS leaders were stooping to such a low level in their pursuit of power that they were performing black magic in the hope of triggering a crisis in the state, he alleged.

Reddy, however, said the Yellampalli project on the Godavari and the Krishna river had received water despite the impact of El Nino, claiming that this showed the Congress government's intentions were good.

Asserting that it was the Congress government's responsibility to provide jobs by conducting all competitive examinations, he urged the youth not to fall into the trap of BRS leaders seeking to provoke them.

The Congress government had filled 70,000 government vacancies within a year of coming to power, he said.

Reddy said his government had built seven lakh houses for the poor in two years and reiterated his challenge that the Congress would seek votes in villages where ‘Indiramma’ houses had been built, while the BRS should seek votes in villages where it had built double-bedroom houses.

He alleged that the BRS had failed to build the double-bedroom houses it had promised the poor.

The Congress government had transferred Rs 36,000 crore to the accounts of 70 lakh farmers under the Rythu Bharosa investment support scheme, he said.

The CM challenged BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, to a debate in the Assembly on the issue.

The state government was distributing more than two lakh quintals of fine rice every month through PDS shops to 3.48 crore people, he said.

He alleged that beneficiaries had not consumed the coarse rice distributed during the previous BRS regime.

The coarse rice was instead used as poultry feed, and in beer and ethanol production, he alleged.

Harish Rao, a nephew of BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, hit back at the CM.

Speaking to reporters in Siddipet, Harish Rao accused the CM of lying on Independence Day.

He said Reddy was making “cheap comments” against him because he had been questioning the government on issues such as alleged corruption, the incomplete farm loan waiver and shortage of fertilisers.

Harish Rao said he would continue to speak for farmers, unemployed youth and students.

He said he would file a defamation suit over the allegations against him.

Reddy had on August 13 alleged that BRS leaders performed occult rituals, including black magic, to discredit the Congress government.

Earlier, on August 4, Telangana Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud had alleged that Harish Rao performed ‘kshudra puja’ (occult rituals) to prevent rainfall in the state and gain political mileage from a drought.

Harish Rao had subsequently issued a legal notice to Goud.