Hyderabad: Former Panchayat Raj and Rural Development minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao denied reports of quitting the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and said that he is working towards “protecting” the party.
“….There is no chance of joining any other party. I will work in the frontlines to bring the BRS back to power. BRS workers should not lose faith over some leaders ditching the party,” he remarked, addressing a press conference on Tuesday, March 19.
Some media reports suggested that the veteran leader was in talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as several Warangal leaders already moved out of the party either to the Congress or the BJP.
Dayakar further said that he witnessed many chief ministers function throughout his long political career and stood up to many of them.
“YS Rajashekhar Reddy put me through so many troubles. He even threatened to convert the Wardhannapet constituency into a Scheduled Castes (SC) reserved seat if I didn’t join the Congress, even then, I didn’t go. He tried to pull me in when I was an MP and an MLA…” he said.
Targetting leaders who recently joined the Congress, Rao said that individuals with business, land dealings and wrongdoings are joining the ruling party.
“The public thinks the Congress government failed to implement its six guarantees. They made a drama during the elections about these schemes for votes. They are not even implementing schemes introduced by KCR. Revanth has the habit of cheating people,” he added.
Phone tapping allegations
Rao also denied allegations about his involvement in the phone tapping case involving suspended DSP Praneeth Rao. There were reports suggesting that Praneeth joined the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) of the Telangana police with the help of Dayakar Rao.
Allegations emerged of Dayakar Rao’s associates running a war room in their residence in the minister’s home town Parvathagiri during the 2023 Assembly elections inorder to target then TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy and other political opponents of the BRS.
“Praneeth Rao is being pressurised to take my name during the investigation. I have no knowledge about any phone tapping or war room,” he said.
A city court on Saturday, March 16, granted the police seven-day custody of suspended DSP Praneeth Rao.
The Punjagutta police had filed a petition seeking his custody for further probe into alleged phone tapping and other illegal actions during his stint with the Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB).
The DSP who was suspended by the state government for phone tapping and damaging equipment at the SIB office and was arrested for three days and sent on judicial remand.
BRS in trouble with defections
Several leaders from the BRS have ditched the party to join either the Congress or the BJP as Lok Sabha elections are inching closer.
Dayakar Rao has been a prominent figure in the Telangana Legislative Assembly, representing the Palakurthi constituency. Formerly with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), he joined BRS in 2016.
He was elected multiple times to the Legislative Assembly and briefly served as a member of the 14th Lok Sabha after winning a bye-election in 2018.
Rao was defeated in the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections by Congress leader and debutant Yashaswini Mamidala Reddy. She won from the Palakurthi constituency, securing 126,848 votes compared to Dayakar Rao Errabelli’s 79,214 votes.
Rao’s defeat to debutant Yashashwini created ripples in Telangana’s political landscape.
Telangana is going to the ballot on May 19, in the fourth phase, as per the Election Commission’s schedule.
