Jupally warns of filing defamation case against KTR

Hyderabad: State Excise and Prohibition minister Jupally Krishna Rao has demanded BRS working president KT Rama Rao to tender an unconditional apology for levelling baseless allegations against him in connection with the murder of BRS leader Sridhar Reddy in old Mahabubnagar district. The minister warned that he would file a defamation case if the BRS leader did not apologise to him.

Krishna Rao along with Congress Lok Sabha candidate for Nagarkurnool Mallu Ravi told newsmen in Gandhi bhavan that the BRS working president was in frustration after the Congress came to power in the state.

Terming the killing of BRS leader Sridhar Reddy at his house at Laxmipally village of Chinnambavi mandal in Wanaparthy district on Thursday as unfortunate, the minister said that it was not a politically motivated murder. The BRS leader was murdered due to different reasons, mainly his alleged involvement in land disputes, financial transactions and other acts, he said.

Krishna Rao said he has never encouraged violence in politics and has always been away from the murder politics since the start of his political career. "The people of the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district know very well about me. They are fully aware of my political life. The people don't believe these allegations made by KTR against me," Krishna Rao said. He criticised the BRS working president for indulging in cheap tactics linking the death of a person to politics and said that KT Rama Rao didn't have any moral rights to speak about the values and family relations. "People didn't forget atrocities that had taken place against Dalits in Sircilla during the tenure of BRS government. The Dalit families had faced untold problems in the last 10 years and KT Rama Rao never raised his voice in support of the oppressed families," Jupally pointed out.