BRS Leaders Protest at ED Office, Demand Details of 2024 Searches

BRS MLAs, leaders and party workers staged a protest outside the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Hyderabad on Monday, demanding details on the status and outcome of the agency’s investigation and searches linked to Telangana Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. The party questioned why the ED had not publicly disclosed its findings nearly two years after searches were conducted at premises linked to the minister and people associated with him.

The September 2024 ED searches remain at the centre of the BRS protest. Party leaders said the agency had carried out searches at around 16 locations on September 27 and 28 last year but had not made public what was discovered during the operation. They sought clarity on whether investigators had identified any irregularities, what material was collected and what stage the probe had reached.

BRS workers gathered outside the ED office carrying photographs of Ponguleti and raised slogans against the minister. The demonstration also led to a brief confrontation between party leaders and police personnel deployed at the premises. BRS MLA Kalvakuntla Sanjay Kumar and other leaders reportedly engaged in an argument with the police before a delegation from the party was allowed to enter the ED office.

The delegation subsequently submitted a representation to ED officials seeking detailed information about the searches. The BRS specifically asked whether cash, documents, digital devices, bank accounts or other material had been seized during the operations.

The party also sought details of the further action taken in the case and demanded a written response within 15 days. If the investigation is still continuing, the BRS asked the agency to indicate a timeframe for the next steps in the probe.

Meanwhile, TPCC president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud criticised the BRS protest while speaking at a Congress demonstration in Hyderabad against the Election Commission. He alleged that the BRS had organised the ED protest to divert public attention from the Congress agitation.

Mahesh Kumar Goud further alleged that the BRS and BJP had an understanding. The allegations had not drawn an immediate response from the BRS or the ED at the time of reporting.