B L Santhosh summoned by Telangana police for ‘trying to buy’ TRS MLAs
B L Santhosh summoned by Telangana police for ‘trying to buy’ TRS MLAs
Hyderabad: BJP leader B L Santhosh has reportedly been summoned by the Telangana police over the party’s alleged attempts to ‘buy’ four legislators from Telangana Rashtra Samithi.
Santhosh, who is the national general secretary (organization) of the BJP, has to appear on November 21, failing which, he will be arrested, according to the notice, reports NDTV.
The notice has been issued after the High Court ruled that the police could continue their investigation under monitoring by a judge.
Three men had been arrested in October for allegedly offering Rs 100 crore to the TRS legislators at a farmhouse, although the three men have been given bail.
The allegations were made in the midst of increasing political rivalry as Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao aims for a national role against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in the 2024 elections.
Rao recently showed videos at a press conference, claiming them to be proof of the BJP ‘poaching’ his party members. He had claimed that he had three hours of footage of the five-minute video. The chief minister had also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were involved in the ‘poaching’.
The BJP, however, had called the allegations ‘staged’ and the videos as ‘recordings with hired actors’.
TRS legislator Rohit Reddy has reportedly told the police in his complaint that the three men had said that no case would be filed against them if they did not take the offer.
The High Court has rejected the BJP plea to hand over the case to a ‘neutral’ agency like the CBI, and made the state police's Special Investigation Team independent with a judge as overseer.
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Kerala polls: ‘People rejected 10 years of misrule’, says AICC gen secy
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal on Monday said the Congress-led UDF’s sweeping victory in the Kerala Assembly polls was a clear verdict against the “arrogance”, corruption, and nepotism of the CPI(M)-led LDF government headed by CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
Addressing a press conference as counting of votes for all 140 Assembly constituencies neared completion, Venugopal said the outcome reflected public anger against what he termed “10 years of misrule” by the Left government.
He claimed that Vijayan’s victory in his home constituency, Dharmadam, was “only technical”, alleging that the CM trailed the UDF candidate in the initial rounds of counting and failed to secure a majority in his own village.
“He just escaped. He suffered a setback even in his home turf. He was the only person who did not realise the people’s mood in this election,” Venugopal said.
Alleging that the CPI(M) and the LDF had resorted to “communal and opportunistic politics”, he further claimed that the ruling front had entered into a “secret understanding” with the BJP in a bid to retain power for a third consecutive term.
He said that when a government driven by power and arrogance attempts to align with anyone to stay in office, even its own cadre turns against it.
Referring to the results, Venugopal said that while the UDF expected rebel CPI(M) leaders, including K Kunhikrishnan in Payyannur, to impact the vote share, their victories came as a surprise.
Describing the UDF’s performance as a “historic victory”, he attributed it to coordinated teamwork, grassroots mobilisation, and the dedication of party workers, adding that the alliance accepted the mandate “with humility”.
Venugopal also credited Rahul Gandhi’s campaign guarantees, calling them a “trump card” that helped voters focus on real issues and reject what he described as the LDF’s “false narratives”.
He claimed that the Congress witnessed one of its lowest levels of rebellion in this election, which contributed to the alliance’s strong performance.
The senior Congress leader further alleged that the BJP managed to win two seats with the help of the CPI(M), and asserted that forces attempting to divide society on communal lines should “learn a lesson” from Kerala’s verdict.
“This is the real Kerala story,” he said.
On the question of the next Chief Minister, Venugopal said the party leadership would decide at the earliest after due consultations.
The counting of votes began on Monday morning for all 140 Assembly constituencies in Kerala, where the Congress-led UDF secured a decisive majority, defeating the CPI(M)-led LDF, which was seeking an unprecedented third consecutive term in office.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) posts, "Thank you to my brothers and sisters in Keralam for a truly decisive mandate. Congratulations to every UDF leader and worker for a hard-fought, well-run campaign. As I said before, Keralam has the talent, Keralam has the potential… pic.twitter.com/6T4IZbEmp4
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 4, 2026
