Deccan Chronicle

CONTEST WINNER’S LIFE GOES FOR A TOSS

BJP CALLS IT BLACKMAIL POLITICS, RETALIATES WITH PERSONAL JIBE ON MARRIAGE

- DC CORRESPOND­ENT

Investigat­ion Team are quizzing a number of film personalit­ies who are allegedly involved in the drug trade.

Mr Digvijay Singh and a few of his fellow Congressme­n have accused some individual­s with close ties to the government of involvemen­t in the racket.

AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday tweeted saying “influentia­l friends of the TRS heir apparent” were involved in the Telangana drug racket.

In May, Mr Digvijay Singh had accused the Telangana State Police of setting up a bogus ISIS site to trap young Muslim men and demanded that the Chief Minister step down from his post. On Thursday, he stirred up yet another controvers­y by tweeting, “Huge Drug Scam in Telangana. Influentia­l friends of TRS heir apparent involved. Let’s see if they would be saved or prosecuted”.

Mr Rama Rao immediatel­y tweeted back, “You’ve completely lost it sir. Time to retire gracefully & do something worth your age. Glad that you’ve finally learnt to spell Telangana”.

According to agency reports, when asked to clarify who he was referring to when he said “heir apparent,” Mr Singh said, “It’s now for them (TRS) to respond. It could be Harish Rao, it could be KTR (Rama Rao), and it could be the daughter of the CM, whoever is the heir apparent.”

Congress leader Shabbir Ali said that Mr Digvijay Singh would never say something without evidence. “His allegation­s must be true,” he said.

BJP Spokespers­on Krishna Saagar Rao asked why Mr Digvijay Singh was resorting to blackmail politics. He said that if he had any names or evidence to prove the alleged links with TRS politician­s, he should speak openly and make the evidence public.

Pedapalli MP Balka Suman, a staunch supporter of K.T. Rama Rao, said that it would be good for Digvijay Singh to be enrolled in the mental asylum of Erragadda Hospital in Hyderabad. He added that he would ensure that Mr Singh received treatment for free there. He said that it was not expected of Mr Singh to make such baseless allegation­s at a time when Chief Minister K. Chandrasek­hara Rao was determined to permanentl­y weed out the drug menace from Telangana.

Former Union Minister and Special Representa­tive for the Telangana State Government in New Delhi S. Venugopala Chary said that the fact that Mr Singh did not have any morals and scruples was made evident when he married a woman who was half his age. He said that with age he seemed to be developing Alzheimer’s disease, which was causing him to make wild, baseless allegation­s.

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