Snoopgate in BRS
RECENT confessions by former officials, exposing alleged extensive surveillance operations conducted during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rule in Telangana, have plunged the party leadership into a deepening controversy. Former Task Force OSD P Radha Kishan Rao and former additional SP N Bhujanga Rao have laid bare an acutely troubling misuse of power, where state machinery was allegedly deployed not just for political advantage but also to stifle dissent and control the Opposition. The confessions detail how key figures, including then Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) and his nephew, reportedly orchestrated phone-tapping and directed illegal surveillance of political rivals, journalists and critics.
The situation has escalated with accusations of a broader conspiracy. The ex-OSD has claimed that KCR’s plan was to have Bandi Sanjay Kumar, a prominent BJP leader, arrested. The expectation was that this arrest would pressure the BJP into a compromise regarding the Enforcement Directorate case against KCR’s daughter K Kavitha, who is an accused in the Delhi liquor policy scam. Another damning aspect of this case is the alleged misuse of state resources to facilitate the transportation of BRS money while seizing those of the Opposition, thus manipulating poll outcomes, beginning in 2018 and peaking in the 2023 Assembly elections, where surveillance and illegal activities were stepped up to ensure the BRS’s dominance. The involvement of high-ranking officials, who reportedly engaged in extortion and blackmail, paints a grim picture of a deeply entrenched corruption network. The use of sophisticated technology to tap encrypted calls is a gross violation of privacy.
The revelations call for a thorough probe. Accountability must be fixed, right from the political masterminds to officers. Telangana’s judiciary and civil society must address these grievous charges of violation and prevent such abuses from recurring.
