Much against widely spread perception that it was not BRS Working President KT Rama Rao, but former minister and BRS MLA T. Harish Rao, who appears to be a gentleman in the eyes of the people, is revealed to be the mastermind behind the now infamous phone tapping episode during KCR’s regime, just ahead of 2023 assembly polls.
It was Harish Rao who first realized that the presence of TDP party in Telangana will be a danger to the political existence of the TRS and started branding it as a party of Andhra people. Now, sources in the SIT investigation indicate that all the fingers of phone tapping are now pointing towards Harish Rao.
Allegations are emerging that Harish Rao gave Rs. 100 crores to bring phone tapping equipment from Israel and formed a group of Velama community police officers and gave them the responsibility of tapping.
According to the information gathered from them that day, Harish Rao went to the house of former TDP leader of Gajwel, Onteru Pratap Reddy, and threatened him at Doolapally Farm Meadows to change the party. He went to Madhavaram Krishna Rao’s house in the middle of the night and forcibly put him in a car and took him to the farmhouse and gave him money and suitcases and made him change the party.
BRS sources indicate that he used to gather weaknesses of others through phone tapping and threatened them by forcing them submit towards BRS. He also articulates political skills of reciprocating people with sentiments. Now it is felt that the main reason to force former minister Etala Rajender to quit the party was fearing that his presence may lead to expose their evil tactics.
Again, the move to merge BRS with BRS also spearheaded by Harish Rao fearing that with the exposure of phone tapping ultimately it may axe around his neck. He himself has reportedly held talks with several key BJP leaders in Delhi in this regard.
Very recently, it is believed that it was Harish Rao started viscous campaign against Banakacharla project, initiated by Chandrababu Naidu-led AP Government stating that it would makes Telangana a desert only to check TDP’s efforts to active role in Telangana politics, fearing that would be politically dangerous for BRS.