The Telugu Desam Party, an ally of Bharatiya Janata Party, has fielded Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy from Ongole Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming general elections, months after he and his son Raghava switched over from the YSR Congress Party to the Chandrababu-Naidu-led outfit.
Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, a four-time MP from Ongole, has been in the news after his name surfaced in the Delhi excise policy case in which Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested. His son is an approver in the excise policy case.
During the hearing in Rouse Avenue court on Thursday, Kejriwal had himself made submissions before his custody was extended till April 1. The Aam Aadmi Party convenor did mention Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, who visited the chief minister’s office on March 16, 2021.
According to a PTI report, Kejriwal said his office gave the then YSRCP MP an appointment to meet after 10 days.
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“He came over and said I want to open my family’s charitable trust in Delhi. I told him that land does not come under us, it comes under the Lieutenant Governor (LG),” the Delhi CM said in court.
Kejriwal said he asked the Andhra MP to give him the letter which he will forward to the LG. On September 16, 2022, Reddy’s house was raided and ED asked him whether he met Kejriwal.
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After the MP replied in affirmative and said that the meeting was related to seek land for his family’s trust, Kejriwal claimed that the ED was ‘not happy’ and later arrested his son Raghav in February last year.
“When the son remains arrested for five months, the father changes his statement. He changed his statement on July 16, 2023, and his son was released on July 18. Mission accomplished. That means the only mission of the ED was to get me trapped,” the AAP leader said.
According to Kejriwal, Magunta Srinivas Reddy gave three statements to the agency but only one was considered.
“Why the only statement that is against Kejriwal has been included in the 25,000 pages of ED report and the other two statements were not considered?All the three statements should have been brought to the notice of the court, so that it could decide the truth in the case,” Kejriwal added.
On his son Raghav Magunta, Kejriwal said out his total seven statements, six were not against him (Kejriwal). But as soon as he gave the seventh statement against him, Magunta was released from the jail.
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