Looks like the twists and turns in the political fight for the Munugode bypoll will continue as the war of words broke out between Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar and MAUD minister K Taraka Rama Rao, with the former taking the oath in a temple swearing that his party has no hand in the TRS MLAs poaching case.
At the popular Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple in Yadagirigutta, BJP chief Sanjay Kumar swore that the saffron party was not involved in the alleged poaching of four TRS MLAs. Now, where have we seen this before? If we take a leaf out of the recent political shifts in Goa, oath taking has not ended well for politicians sometimes.
Last month, complaints were filed against eight MLAs from Goa who pledged their allegiance to the Congress in a temple and church, but joined the BJP after eight months.
In February this year, 35 candidates from the Congress took oath at the Mahalaxmi Temple in Panaji, Fulancho Khuris at Bambolim and a Dargah in Betim. They had sworn that if the Congress gave them the tickets, they would stick to the party for five years. However, in September, eight of the 11 MLAs joined the BJP. Two activists lodged a complaint against them stating that by taking false oaths, the Congress leaders had deeply hurt the religious sentiments of different communities.
What will be the outcome of Sanjay Kumar’s oath only time will tell. However, the move did spark an exchange of barbs between him and the chief minister’s son, KTR. In a press meet, KTR said, “Yadadri temple authorities should perform a puja because it is sinful of Sanjay to swear on God using the same hands which picked up Amit Shah’s sandals”.
In retaliation, Sanjay responded: “For us, Guru is equal to God. We wash their feet. That day, I provided sandals to Amit Shah. What’s wrong in that?”
When home minister Amit Shah had visited Hyderabad a month ago, a video of Sanjay Kumar picking up his sandals and bringing them to him had gone viral. In the face of the criticism that came his way, the Telangana BJP chief had maintained that since Amit Shah was his guru, there was no shame in picking his footwear.
Interestingly, in the leaked audio tapes of the alleged conversations between BJP and TRS leader Pilot Rohit Reddy, a Swamiji from the BJP side mentioned that the deal was being undertaken bypassing the state leaders. So, it might be true that Sanjay Kumar indeed had no inkling about the poaching.
While speculation runs high and investigation into the case in going on, the TRS lodged a complaint with the Election Commission over illegal transfer of Rs 5.22 crore by BJP’s Munugode candidate, Komatireddy Raja Gopal Reddy, to various residents and leaders ahead of the bypoll. This came after one TRS minister, Jagadish Reddy, was barred from campaigning for 48 hours. The minister had threatened to withdraw welfare schemes if they did not vote for TRS. The bypoll is scheduled to be held on November 3.
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