“Politically motivated”: Congress’ Priyank Kharge slams BJP over waqf notice row
The directive came after a high-level meeting involving senior officials from the Revenue Department, Minority Welfare Department, and the Waqf Board.
BRS working president KT Rama Rao today questioned the inaction of the Enforcement Directorate on the Valmiki scam in Karnataka, which has been linked with politicians and businessmen of Telangana wondering, who was protecting the Congress party in this case.
Karnataka Maharishi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Scam involved a whopping Rs 187.33 crore with the money parked in different accounts including Rs 45 crore in government treasury was diverted to MG Road branch of Union Bank of India in the neighbouring state. Out of Rs 187.33 crore, Rs 88.63 crore was then illegally transferred to at least 217 different bank accounts in Telangana including 18 firms.
Rao, popularly known as KTR, listed a number of questions on the scam starting with “Who are the nine bank account holders in Hyderabad to whom the ST Corporation money of Rs 45 crore was transferred?”
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He then wondered “who is the owner of the V6 business to which Rs 4.5 crore was transferred?” Incidentally, a powerful Congress MLA in Telangana owns a channel by the same name. His son is now an MP from Telangana. KTR then went on to ask “Who were running the bars and gold shops from which the cash was withdrawn during Lok Sabha elections. What’s their connection with the Congress Party?
He then pointed out that Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah had agreed that Rs 90 crore was embezzled in this scam. KTR wondered about the statement of Karnataka minister Satish Jarkiholi that Telangana govt will topple if Siddaramaiah was removed.
The former industry minister then made a series of insinuations that the information about the scam as well raids by SIT, CID and ED in the state were deliberately suppressed from Telangana media.
He also questioned: “Why is the ED silent in Telangana even after getting substantial leads? Who is protecting Congress here?” Rao has been linking chief minister A Revanth Reddy with the BJP in the past. However, in this post he did not name any Congress politicians directly.
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