The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has condemned the arrest of its MLC and Bharat Jagruthi president K. Kavitha after the court hours on Friday and termed it politically-motivated to hit the moral of the party leadership and ranks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and called for protests in all constituencies on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference after the Enforcement Directorate officials took Ms. Kavitha to airport for taking her to Delhi on Friday night, BRS leaders T. Harish Rao, G. Jagadish Reddy, V. Prashanth Reddy and P. Kaushik Reddy said it was another measure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre to force the Opposition parties into submission.
Mr. Harish Rao alleged that it was not new for BJP to coerce the Opposition parties with false cases, ED and IT raids and lifting the cases/charges after leaders of those parties join the BJP. He stated that the ED officials went to Ms. Kavitha’ residence late in the afternoon on the pretext of conducting searches and announced her arrest after the court hours, as per their pre-conceived plan to deny her any opportunity to knock the legal doors.
Stating that harassment, arrests and cases were not new to BRS leaders from the days of Statehood movement, Mr. Harish Rao pointed out that State leaders of the BJP had said umpteen times in the past that ED would arrest Ms. Kavitha in the Delhi liquor scam case. The ED and IT raids against a few ministers, MPs and MLAs before the Assembly elections were also attempts to weaken the party morale.
Further, he pointed out that the next hearing on Ms. Kavitha’s plea pertaining to the case was due on March 19 and the ED officials had given undertaking to the Supreme Court on Friday that they would not make any move against her including arrest. He sought to know where was the urgency to arrest a woman after the court hours.
‘Have faith in law’
Meanwhile, before boarding the ED vehicle to go to the airport Ms. Kavitha greeted the party ranks gathered outside her Nandinagar residence in Banjara Hills and told them to be brave as such measures of oppression were politically-motivated as they raised slogans against the ED and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She stated that she would counter the ED act in the court with all the faith in law.
Party MP V. Ravichandra, former minister and MLC Satyavathi Rathod condemned the arrest and termed it a joint operation of the BJP government at the Centre and Congress in the State. They said it was an attempt hit the morale of BRS ranks and its leadership ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
