BRS working president KT Rama Rao, taking a dig at Telangana Chief  Minister A Revanth Reddy, said he would fight legally against the allegations of committing irregularities after the state Cabinet decided to proceed against the former IT minister in connection with the alleged release of Rs 55 crore to the organizers of the Formula E race in Hyderabad. Incidentally, both the BRS and the Congress accused each other of running to New Delhi for a trade-off over the case.

The state Cabinet yesterday decided to officially send the file to the Anti-Corruption Bureau for investigation after Governor Jishnudev Verma granted his approval to proceed against the former municipal administration and urban development minister. Rao had apparently issued verbal instruction to the then department secretary Arvind Kumar to release the payment to organizers of Formula E race from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) before elections for the next edition of the race. As the departmental secretary, Kumar has also come under the scanner along with chief engineer HMDA, BLN Reddy. The race was scrapped after the Congress government came to power. Yesterday, the Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy also wondered why BRS leaders were frequently visiting Delhi if there was no truth in the allegation of irregularities over the Formula E race. ACB will register the FIR against the minister.

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Rao hit back at the Congress government saying he will fight the allegations legally. He also took a dig at Revanth Reddy reposting Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s tweet welcoming motorsports in Bengaluru. The BRS working president said, “Wow, nice! So, is this also a scam? I wonder!” Earlier he posted a tweet in Telugu insinuating that the Chief Minister’s frequent visits to New Delhi had not yielded even “3 paisa” for the state but Reddy has managed a trade-off with the BJP following a dinner with Adani at Jaipur to file cases against him. He said “Good luck Chitti Naidu & Co. Will face you legally. Bring it on.” Chitti Naidu is a popular Telugu film character.

Meanwhile, in the state Assembly, the BRS continued to raise the issue of the plight of Lagacharla farmers, languishing in jail with MLAs wearing black shirts and putting on handcuffs to make their point.