ust hours before submitting his nomination papers for the upcoming Assembly elections, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, a prominent Telangana Congress leader, found himself subject to Income Tax (I-T) Department raids, prompted by allegations of tax evasion. Srinivas Reddy is running for the Paleru constituency in Khammam district.
During the early hours of Thursday, I-T Department officials descended upon Srinivas Reddy’s residence in Khammam, as well as his office and native place in Kalluru. These officials scrutinized documents pertaining to his business activities and probed recent cash transactions, requesting the submission of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for further examination.
Looks like the Income Tax raids on Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy’s residence were triggered by his recent interview with a media channel. During the interview, a reporter intentionally inquired about Ponguleti’s assets, to which he responded that the focus should not be on how much he has earned but rather on how much he has dedicated to serving the people.
Immediately following the interview, he became aware of the impending Income Tax raids on his residence and subsequently addressed the matter with the media, Congress party activists voiced their dissent by chanting slogans critical of the BJP and BRS for orchestrating these searches. These raids were conducted under stringent security measures. It is noteworthy that Srinivas Reddy had joined the Congress in July, subsequent to his suspension from the BJP. Srinivas Reddy, who also serves as the co-chairman of the Congress campaign committee, acknowledged that the party’s leaders would encounter challenging times in the days ahead.
On the previous day, officials from the Election Commission of India, in collaboration with the police, conducted searches at the residence of Tummala Nageswara Rao, a former minister and Congress candidate for the Khammam Assembly constituency. Nageswara Rao had recently defected from BRS to join the Congress party after being denied a ticket for the Assembly polls. In Khammam, the state’s incumbent transport minister, P Ajay Kumar, is seeking re-election as a BRS candidate. Subsequent to the drama surrounding the Income Tax raids, Thummala Nageswara Rao and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy proceeded to officially submit their respective nominations.
