BRS, police scuffle in Hyderabad as KTR is called for questioning in phone-tapping case

Angry leaders and cadres raised slogans against the government as police cordoned off Telangana Bhavan. Protests continued near the Jubilee Hills police station, where former Ministers Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Koppula Eshwar, former MLAs Shankar Naik and Kranthi Kiran, and other BRS leaders staged a sit-in on the road.

The case in question is being investigated by the Telangana police. It is alleged that the BRS government, which was in power in Telangana for 10 years starting from 2014, had tapped the phones of opposition leaders of both the Congress and the BJP.

‘Probe is like a TV serial’

Before he went to the police station, KTR launched a blistering attack on the Congress-led Telangana government, alleging that the ongoing phone-tapping investigation was nothing but a diversionary tactic to shield administrative failures and protect Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.

KTR claimed that the SIT constituted by the government resembled a “daily television serial” rather than a genuine inquiry. He asserted that notices were being issued selectively to opposition leaders purely for political mileage, while senior police and intelligence officials who actually oversaw the system in the past were being kept away from questioning.

According to KTR, every government in the country relies on intelligence agencies for maintaining law and order and safeguarding stability. He argued that surveillance mechanisms have existed since the time of Jawaharlal Nehru and continue even today under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Such systems, he maintained, function within the police and intelligence establishment and do not operate at the discretion of ministers or political executives. He said that if the probe is honest, several police officers should be questioned first. “Instead, political leaders are being targeted and an endless story is being spun for timepass,” he said.

KTR challenged the state government to produce at least one senior official who would publicly state that opposition leaders’ phones were not currently being tapped. He accused the administration of allowing selective leaks to the media while avoiding any formal press briefings or official clarifications. “For two years this case has gone on, yet there has not been a single official press conference — only anonymous stories and speculation,” he alleged.

He accused the Chief Minister of using the controversy to buy time while travelling abroad, including to Davos and Harvard, claiming that instructions had been issued to keep the matter alive by sending notices to different BRS leaders on different days. Calling the case “baseless” and “trash,” KTR said even the investigating police officers were aware that nothing substantial existed.

Turning his guns on the government’s two-year record, KTR said the Congress had failed to deliver on its electoral promises, including financial assistance to women and the implementation of six guarantees. He alleged that instead of addressing governance issues, the administration was constantly rolling out new controversies — ranging from Kaleshwaram to Formula-E, sheep procurement schemes and now phone-tapping — merely to divert public attention.

The BRS leader claimed that notices to Harish Rao were issued within hours of the latter raising allegations about irregularities in coal contracts at Singareni involving relatives of the Chief Minister. Reiterating that neither he nor his party colleagues had committed any wrongdoing, KTR said they would cooperate fully with the SIT. However, he maintained that the inquiry amounted to political harassment rather than a search for truth.