Author: Omer Farooq
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 22, 2006
RTI chief's driver nabbed with cash, kits
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti's fears about
Congress' machinations to lure voters in Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency
through money and other gifts came 'true' on Tuesday when a group of its activists
foiled one such bid.
Led by its legislator T Harish Rao, a TRS
team caught a van ferrying 500 cricket kit bags each costing Rs 500 and Rs
500,000 in cash. The vehicle was intercepted at Sultanpur village in Timmapur
mandal while it was on its way to Karimnagar.
To their shock, the team also discovered that
the person at the wheel was the driver of Right to Information Commissioner
K Sudhakar Rao. He told the TRS workers that he had been sent by Rao.
The entire operation was carried out in the
presence of electronic media that had been alerted by the TRS in advance.
Later angry party workers set the cricket
kits on fire. Ironically both Sudhakar Rao and Harish Rao are close relatives
of TRS president and Karimnagar by-election candidate K Chandrasekhara Rao.
The 500 kits were purchased for Rs 1,47,500
from Sachdev Sports shop in Hyderabad. A receipt in the name of the State
Congress committee was recovered from the van. What is not clear is how the
TRS men had advance information about the cricket kits and cash and how they
were able to zero in on that particular van.
Tirumala Rao, one of the two persons caught
by TRS workers, revealed that he was bringing the material from Gandhi Bhavan,
the State Congress headquarters.
Admitting that he was Sudhakar Rao's driver,
he said that he was taking the consignment to the house of Markfed Chairman
P Prabhakar in Karimnagar. He also revealed that the rTI commissioner had
given him Rs 500,000 cash with an instruction to hand it over to one Anil
in Sircilla.
Sudhakar Rao was quick to deny any involvement
in the episode and said it was a deliberate attempt by the TRS in which his
driver was also used. He also denied any links with the Congress. However,
a criminal case was registered against him and his driver arrested.
The entire episode has created a flutter in
political circle and all the major opposition parties have demanded action
against the RTI Commissioner.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has alleged
that the Congress was resorting to massive irregularities including misuse
of power and money to win the by-poll and this was just the tip of the ice-berg.
The CPI and the CPI(M) have also made similar allegations.
