Refuting all allegations against her daughter K Kavitha in the Delhi liquor policy case, former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said that the scam was created by the Centre to enforce BJP's grasp over Aam Aadmi Party and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
Asserting that his daughter K Kavitha is "innocent", the BRS chief said that such big leaders should not be kept in jail for so long.
Speaking to ANI, KCR said, "They (BJP) have troubled every CM in the country...But they were unable to catch hold of Arvind Kejriwal and K Chandrashekar Rao, they were strong leaders and were running governments."
"So they framed a conspiracy for political benefit through the LG of Delhi. Delhi's Excise Policy was turned into a scam and a false case was framed...and arrested Arvind Kejriwal and my daughter K Kavitha unnecessarily. Nothing was recovered," he added.
The BRS President said that K Kavitha doesn't know anything about the case and strongly asserted that there is "not a scam at all."
"They arrested Arvind Kejriwal and my daughter, she doesn't even know about this thing, she is completely innocent. Delhi Liquor Scam is not a scam at all, it is a scam created by Narendra Modi. It is a political scam of Narendra Modi. I openly say it to the whole country. The accused was made approvers, he got bail and deposited Rs 50 crore to BJP through bonds. What is this drama?" he further said.
Notably, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BRS MLC K Kavitha are under judicial custody in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval.
Stating that the accused leaders in the case should get bail, KCR asked if they are proven innocent who will repay for the period they spent behind bars.
"We have full faith in the country's legal system. I just want to say to the Indian legal system, whether it is the High Court, Supreme Court, I want to ask if not giving bail to a Chief Minister is right?" the former Chief Minister said.
He added, "The whole country is thinking about this, my daughter is MLC, she is a star campaigner. Will she run away? Why is she not getting bail? How can they keep her for weeks? If they are proven innocent, who will repay this sentence period?"
KCR also attacked the Congress party in the state and said that it came to power by "misguiding" people with their huge promises, while alleging that it is not able to fulfil the promises it made.
"Because of Congress' big promises, they just got 1 per cent ahead in votes. But the promises have blown up now. Farmers are distressed. They haven't implemented the promises, People are not getting electricity, and water," the former CM said.
He also predicted that the BRS would win at least 12 out of 17 seats in the state in the general elections.
"People have been tricked by the fake promises of the Congress party (in Telangana) but they have realised now and there is a lot of anger...We will win at least 12 out of 17 seats," KCR added.
KCR served as the Chief Minister of Telangana, since the formation of the state in 2014 till 2023.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, BRS suffered a jolt after it was reduced to only 39 seats in the 119-member assembly. Congress under Revanth Reddy's leadership came out victorious by winning 64 seats.
The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections are underway and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.
Polling for 17 parliamentary constituencies in Telangana is scheduled to be held in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 13.
In 2019, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won nine seats in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured four seats. The Indian National Congress (INC) obtained three seats. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won one seat.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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