Kavitha’s role in Delhi liquor scam has rattled KCR and BRS, says BJP’s Tarun Chugh

ED questioned BRS MLC K Kavitha for almost nine hours after following due process and obtaining evidence, said Chugh.

BySouth First Desk

Published Mar 11, 2023 | 9:50 PMUpdatedMar 11, 2023 | 9:50 PM

BJP national general secretary and Telangana in charge Tarun Chugh. (Twitter)

The BRS has unfolded a theatre in the national capital to deflect the attention of the people from the core issue of its MLC K Kavitha’s involvement in the Delhi liquor scam in active connivance with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said BJP national general secretary and Telangana in-charge Tarun Chugh on Saturday, 11 March.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned the sitting MLC of the Telangana Legislative Council and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter for questioning after following due process and obtaining conclusive evidence, he stated.

The telling evidence of Kavitha’s role that emerged in the liquor scam has, in fact, rattled the BRS and Chandrashekar Rao, charged Chugh.

All fingers pointing at Kavitha?

Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramachandran Pillai, one of the accused in the scam, already made a deposition stating that he was actually a benami of Kavitha and acted at her behest, said Chugh, though PIllai on Friday filed a petition in court seeking to withdraw his deposition to ED.

The charge sheets, CBI, and the ED have a detailed narration of Kavitha’s role, and how the “South Group” played an important role in the whole scam, and how ₹100 crore were given to AAP through the hawala route, noted Chugh.

The ED summoned Kavitha to get details of the proceeds of this illicit transaction. Instead of answering questions, to which perhaps there are no answers, the BRS has chosen to take recourse to intimidation by calling statutory agencies names, Chugh said.

‘Hunger strike a farce’

The drama that Kavitha enacted yesterday in New Delhi on the Women’s Reservation Bill turned out to be a farce. It is ironic that a party that is inherently misogynist talks about women’s reservations, he quipped.

The first Cabinet of Telangana state didn’t have a single woman minister. Even in its second stint, the BRS has just two women ministers. If Kavitha is genuine in her demand, she must ensure a 33 percent reservation in her father’s Cabinet, he added.

Therefore, the demand was only a pretext to divert the attention of the people from the liquor scam, as is evident.

The silence of KCR on this entire issue is telling, noted Chugh. Neither Kavitha nor her family have answers to simple questions — was she or was she not a part of the South Group.

“Did she take part in the deliberations to decide the liquor policy? Whether or not they had meetings in ITC Kohenur, Hyderabad, and Hotel Oberoi, New Delhi, or her share in the entire scheme was fixed at 33 percent?” he questioned.

Related: ED grills Kavitha for 9 hours, asks her to appear again on 16 March

‘BRS and KCR are rattled’

According to Chugh, it is also ironic that a section of Opposition parties has taken the usual recourse of blaming the central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I wish to make it unequivocal that the Modi government wouldn’t spare anyone involved in corruption, for it has a zero-tolerance policy towards it,” Chugh said.

The statutory agencies have free hands and they would do the job as per the mandate, he added. It has unfortunately become fashionable for the Opposition parties to blame the agencies.

In the ED investigation, the truth will come out and KCR’s designs of intimidating statutory agencies won’t cut much ice.

KCR lost the faith of the people of Telangana long ago and as the truth of the liquor scam stares them in the eyes, the fear is visible on their faces, which the manufactured postures and protests can’t obfuscate, he added.

Also Read: Kavitha may be arrested, says KCR; rules out early Assembly polls