MoS Bandi Sanjay asks KTR to respond to Ramesh’s BRS-BJP merger claim

Hyderabad, July 27 (IANS) Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, on Sunday demanded that BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao respond to the allegation of BJP MP C. M. Ramesh that he had once approached him with a proposal to merge his party with the BJP. 

Stating that the claim made by Ramesh is true, Bandi Sanjay asked K. T. Rama Rao (KTR) to respond.

The MoS was speaking to media persons in Karimnagar on Sunday.

Ramesh, a member of Lok Sabha from Anakapalli in Andhra Pradesh, had claimed on Saturday that a few months ago, KTR had come to his house in Delhi and put forth the merger proposal, and that he had video evidence of it.

Ramesh said KTR had offered to have an alliance or to merge the BRS with the BJP on the condition that ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI probes against his sister, K. Kavitha, and others would be halted.

The BJP MP had dared the BRS leader to swear by God and tell whether he had approached him with such a proposal or not.

Ramesh made the claim while responding to KTR’s allegation that Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy awarded contracts to a company owned by the BJP MP.

When Bandi Sanjay’s attention was drawn to a challenge thrown by KTR for a debate on his allegation, the MoS said he was ready to facilitate the debate and asked the BRS leader to fix the date, time and venue.

The MoS also cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim made at a public meeting in Nizamabad in 2023 that K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) had approached him with a request to include BRS in the NDA and also sought support to make his son KTR the chief minister. PM Modi had said he rejected his request on the ground that BRS is a family-centric party.

The Minister of State claimed that BRS leaders were unable to run the party and alleged that the party is neck-deep in corruption.

He also claimed that KTR had approached C.M. Ramesh in 2009 when KCR had refused to give him a ticket for the Assembly election for the first time. Ramesh not only convinced KCR to field KTR but also provided him financial support to contest the election, he said.

The BJP leader accused KTR of using some social media accounts and YouTube channels to make derogatory comments against the BJP and its leaders. He warned the BRS leader that there would be ‘attacks’ in response to such comments.