Adding fuel to fire, the alleged case of poaching of TRS MLAs by people claiming to be working on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took a new turn when two audio clips having the conversation between a godman and Tandur MLA Rohit Reddy revolving around TRS MLAs defecting to BJP went viral on social media on Friday evening.
The audio clips of 13 minutes and 27 minutes each were played on regional news channels and they raised interest, as two of the accused, Ramachandra Bharathi and Nanda Kumar discuss with Mr. Rohit Reddy changing the party apart from bringing in some more MLAs into the fold. Some parts of the conversation also referred to money to be exchanged for defecting.
In the second audio clip, Mr. Bharathi claimed that if Mr. Rohit Reddy resigns, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao would dissolve the Assembly and the government would collapse.
Mr. Bharathi asked Mr. Rohit Reddy to share the names of those defecting as he had already discussed the issue with the top leadership. The latter refused to give the details and Mr. Bharathi said he was willing to meet anywhere outside Hyderabad. But Mr. Rohit Reddy said that would raise suspicion in the party as the Munugode byelection was on.
He said that B.L. Santosh, a senior BJP leader, would be willing to come to Hyderabad if there was a bulk of MLAs ready for defection. Mr. Rohit Reddy asked whether his political future and security would be taken care of if he defected.
That would be taken care of, Mr. Bharathi said, adding that they were looking for quality people. He also wanted to meet personally and October 26 was fixed with the intervention of another accused Mr. Nanda Kumar.
In the 13 minute phone conversation, Mr. Bharathi said that Mr. Santosh, organising secretary of the party who takes care of everything, and ‘Number 1 and Number 2’ of the party would also come and meet him at his residence. As per the policy of RSS, the Number 1 and Number 2 would have to come to his residence.
Mr. Rohit Reddy was repeatedly asking Mr. Bharathi to keep the issue confidential and that if the Chief Minister came to know “their happiness would be screwed”. Mr. Bharathi said that security, including issues connected to ED and income tax, would be taken care of.
In the second audio clip, Mr. Bharathi, a pontiff from Faridabad, was seeking the names of the defecting MLAs with Mr. Nanda Kumar. “I can talk to the top people only if the names were revealed,” he told Mr. Nanda Kumar.
Mr. Bharathi, who is constantly referred to as Swamiji, claimed that Mr. Santosh had discussed the issue with Union Home Minister Amit Shah but he was not ready to visit Hyderabad if the number was small. However, Mr. Nanda Kumar was repeatedly trying to convince him that Mr. Rohit Reddy was not willing to share the names of the other three till the meeting happened.
The Swamiji said that the top leaders were ready for everything he was promising, as the information was conveyed to the Number 2 and Mr. Santosh.
The name of one Tushar also cropped up when Mr. Bharathi said that he can get him to Hyderabad for discussions and Tushar was the man of ‘Number 1 and Number 2’. He also assured that the defecting MLAs would get Y category security like Andhra Pradesh MP Raghuram Krishnamraju. A post for Mr. Nanda Kumar was also promised in the discussion if the deal went off successfully.
