Hyderabad: The ‘vote chori’ row which is causing a stir in national politics has now become a topic of debate even in Telangana. The latest statements made by PCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud on this issue, alleging that 8 BJP MPs won owing to ‘vote theft’ are creating ripples in State politics.

Mahesh Goud, who began his second leg of Janahita padayatra in Karimnagar, accused BJP MPs of winning through fraudulent means. He alleged that in a single house in Karimnagar, the Parliamentary constituency of Union Minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar has 40 voters, as an instance of fake votes contributing to their victory. Speaking to a Telugu news channel, he targeted the Karimnagar MP and said that there was solid evidence on stolen votes in Telangana. He said that there is a suspicion that Bandi Sanjay won with fake votes in Karimnagar. He asserted that if the entire data was analysed, the facts will come out.

Recently, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said at an event that conspiracies have been hatched for vote theft in Telangana as well and called on everyone to come together and defeat them. To take forward Rahul Gandhi’s fight in this regard to the public, the vote theft campaign logo was also released during the Political Affairs Committee meeting on Saturday. Moreover, the CM and all his cabinet colleagues have announced their participation in Rahul Gandhi’s yatra in Bihar, before returning to Hyderabad from their north India visit.

While the Congress is attacking with ‘vote chori’, the BJP is bringing the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) issue to the fore as a counter. It is interesting to note that Union Minister G Kishan Reddy recently commented that the voters list should be revised in Telangana as well. He argued that there are lakhs of duplicate votes in Hyderabad, and if the revision is carried out, 4 lakh votes may have to be deleted in the city itself, which is why SIR is needed. With local body elections due in the state soon, it remains to be seen how the Congress and BJP will draw battle lines amid allegations of ‘vote chori’ and demand for implementation of SIR in State.