Under I-T scanner, 2 BRS MLAs and MP in fresh KCR-BJP flare-up ahead of polls

Theertha Group, owned and promoted by Shekar Reddy, builds residential projects in Hyderabad, Mangalore and Udupi. It is also involved in the solar energy and lithium battery projects.

Shekar Reddy is a two-time MLA from Bhongir, and is a Politburo member of the BRS. He joined the K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR)-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) – which has recently been renamed as the BRS – in 2005, and got the party ticket to launch his electoral debut in the 2014 Assembly elections after Telangana state was carved out of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

Riding on the pro-Telangana sentiment and a wave in favour of TRS, Shekar Reddy defeated the candidate fielded by the TDP, which held the seat since 1985.

“The I-T department officials were inquiring about some tax related issues. They had some queries about a software company we have recently started,’” Shekar Reddy said in his reaction to the I-T department’s action.

M Janardhan Reddy, is a two-time BRS MLA from Nagarkurnool. Associated with the KCR-headed party since it was launched in 2001, he contested for the first time on its ticket in 2014 and wrested the Nagarkurnool seat from the TDP, which had held the seat since 1994.

Janardhan Reddy’s company J C Brothers Holding Ltd is a major real estate development and construction company in Hyderabad. His family also owns J C Brothers, which have some of the biggest cloth showrooms in Hyderabad and parts of Telangana.

Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, 57, is the BRS MP from Medak. In Hyderabad and Medak district, Prabhakar is known as “Sony Reddy” as he owns the popular intra-state and inter-state travel agency, Sony Travels. With assets worth over several hundred crore, he succeeded KCR as the MP from the Medak seat.

KCR had won from the Medak parliamentary constituency as well as the Gajwel Assembly constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls.

After taking over as the first CM of the newly-created Telangana state in June 2014, KCR resigned as the MP from Medak. Prabhakar Reddy was subsequently fielded by the TRS in the Medak seat bypoll, which he won. He again won from the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Prabhakar Reddy reportedly owns stakes in huge shopping malls in Hyderabad. “The I-T raids are a witch hunt against the BRS. The officials did not find anything after hours of searching. They left empty-handed. I and my family members helped the I-T team search the various properties and premises owned by us,” he said.

Last November, the I-T had searched the premises, offices and houses of Telangana Minister for Labour and Employment C Malla Reddy in Hyderabad besides conducting searches at his relatives’ premises. Reddy owns a chain of educational institutions under C Malla Group of Institutions and C Malla Reddy Educational Society, which include engineering, medical, dental, and nursing colleges. The I-T officials scrutinised the records of admissions under private quota at these institutions for which private colleges generally charge crore for each seat.

The I-T department’s Wednesday operation against the BRS MLAs and MP is set to escalate the conflict between the BRS and the BJP in the run-up to the state Assembly elections slated for December. KCR has now regularly been targeting the Narendra Mod-led BJP government of allegedly misusing central agencies against the Opposition leaders for “political vendetta”.