Egg on the face for TDP after MLA Revnath Reddy is caught paying bribe for MLC polls

Hyderabad: The latest cash-for-vote expose, where a Telugu Desam Party legislator was caught on camera offering money to a nominated lawmaker in Telangana, has dealt a serious blow to the anti-corrupt credential of Chandrababu Naidu’s party. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested A Revanth Reddy, the TDP legislator from Mahbubnagar district, on Sunday, and he, along with two others, was produced before a judge of the ACB court early in the morning of Monday. All three were remanded to judicial custody. However, Reddy was allowed to exercise his vote in his capacity as an MLA. The Telangana Legislative Council will elect six members today. [caption id=“attachment_2272334” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  TDP MLA Revnath Reddy. Image from IBN live.[/caption] Reddy was arrested at the residence of an Anglo-Indian nominated MLA, Stephenson, in Secunderabad. The subsequent telecast of the footage, shot with spy-camera while the MLA was handing over wads of currency worth Rs 50 lakh “towards advance” as part of a “total deal of Rs 5 crore”, has left the TDP thoroughly embarrassed. Known to be a motormouth, Reddy habitually launches trenchant attacks on political rivals on matters corruption. The television footage reveals him repeatedly assuring the Anglo-Indian MLA that he had approached the latter at the behest of “my boss” (meaning the TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu). The Anglo-Indian MLA, who gave the impression that he was falling for the lure, finally rejected the bait. Reddy told Stephenson – in the video footage – that nobody could make out as to who cross-voted in favour of the TDP and solicited his vote. He also “promised” him a position in Andhra Pradesh and “the boss assured” of any help. He claimed that he was “funding” the TDP candidate VemNarender Reddy. Revanth Reddy assured the Anglo-Indian MLA that the “balance” amount promised to him would be delivered after 9.30 pm (on Sunday) or any time on Monday at a place of choice of the nominated legislature. Now, here’s a little backgrounder to the election: elections to six vacancies for the post of Members of Legislative Council from the MLA quota have been notified and the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) could easily win four of them. Each candidate is supposed to secure 17.1 votes. The Congress, which has 18 MLAs in its kitty, with four out of the 22 originally elected crossing the floor to TRS, still can pull off a seat. The TRS, which scooped out four MLAs from the Congress, five from the TDP, three from the YSR Congress, two from the BahujanSamaj Party, has consolidated its strength at 77. Besides this, the lone YSR Congress MLA and seven of All India Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen have pledged their support to the TRS nominees. Just to make matters worse for the TDP, the TRS fielded a fifth candidate and he would be fighting head-on with its nominee. Against this background, the TDP, with its 11 MLAs and five MLAs of the BJP, pinned hopes on the “buyout” of the Anglo-Indian MLA. The Director-General of ACB AK Khan said that the sleuths of his department collected complete evidence in the case and the same would be produced before the court. Though the Telangana TDP Legislators called on the Director-General of Police and demanded the release of the MLA and also levelled a conspiracy charge against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, their argument seemed to be as strong as the weakest link in their alibi. For, Revanth Reddy was shown physically handing over the currency to Stephenson.