Congress has warned the BJP of reprisal after the Delhi Police summoned Telangana Chief Minister and Congress leader Revanth Reddy for questioning on Wednesday in the Amit Shah doctored video case. Congress said the BJP leaders in Congress-ruled states would face a similar fate if such acts continued.
Reddy was called for questioning after he posted the video, which was doctored to show the Home Minister speaking about doing away with reservations for SC/ST, went viral on social media. Besides the chief minister, five other members of the Telangana Congress were also issued a notice.
The notices were handed over by teams of Delhi Police's Special Cell to the Chief Minister's Office and at the party office at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Monday. They have been asked to appear with their mobile phones, laptops, tablets or any other electronic device through which they have created, uploaded and tweeted the video on their X accounts, the sources said.
"They think we will keep sitting like this and not initiate any action. We will also launch action against all those involved. There will be FIRs in Karnataka, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, where the BJP is not in power," she said.
"If they think they can intimidate Telangana CM Shri Revanth Reddy, they are living in a la-la land. Revanth Reddy ji is a fighter, who fought the BRS, your B-team. We trounced them, we trounced you, and we ensured that you were relegated to the margin," Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told reporters on Monday.
The BJP had complained to the Election Commission against the Congress, alleging that it circulated the morphed video to derail the poll process.
The Congress also reacted to the arrest of Reetom Singh in Assam with regard to the case and asked the government to release him. Singh is said to be associated with the Assam Congress and functions as the party's 'War Room Coordinator'. "Arresting Reetom Singh "is against democracy. Singh, who is a part of our 'War Room', was arrested in the midst of the elections only because he criticised the government works," chairman of the state Congress' Media Department Bedabrat Bora said in a statement.
" Every person has the right to criticise the policies of a government and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Kumar Borah condemned the arrest of the young advocate while election campaigning is on," he added.
"No one here is afraid"
Reddy, while addressing a Congress rally at Sedam in Karnataka, said that "no one here is afraid" of such notices and alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now using the Delhi Police to win elections. "Some post was made on social media, they reached Telangana Gandhi Bhavan (state Congress headquarters) with the notice that we will arrest the Telangana Congress president and Telangana Chief Minister.
"That means Narendra Modi ji is now using Delhi Police to win elections. ED, Income Tax and CBI are over," he said.
"No one is afraid here. There are people who give an answer," he said.
Meanwhile, Congress legal advisor Ramchandra Reddy said the party's social media head has received the notice and will respond to it after studying the notice.
Congress spokesperson said that they have received three notices on behalf of three leaders, Satish Manne, Asma Taslima and Shivshankar.
“We have received the notice from the Delhi Police seeking information and evidence from the social media head, Mr. Satish. Just now, we have received the document. We have to go through the content of the FIR before we can respond. We have received three notices. We have received three notices on behalf of 3 leaders: Satish Manne, Asma Taslima and Shivshankar. We have to go through the contents to see whether it is on the issue of Amit Shah. Let us go through the contents of the complaint, then we can respond," Congress spokesperson and legal advisor Ramchandra Reddy said.
