Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has termed the TRS party’s fund raising drive (Gulabi coolie) an extortion from businessmen and people and sought a probe into it.
He alleged that TRS leaders of all hues were extorting huge money from businessmen. “Does it not sound insane that Minister KTR earns Rs. 7 lakh by selling ice-creams; Health Minister Laxma Reddy gets Rs. 5 lakh by working as an attender for an hour in a corporate hospital and Deputy CM Kadiam Srihari gets Rs. 2 lakh for a half-an-hour lecture in private college?,” Mr. Reddy asked.
“It was mere acting and they have been cheating the common people for the last three years with their acting skills,” he said.
He said the Congress party was in receipt of several complaints from business community on this extortion. “KCR legalised extortion and empowered all his workers to collect huge amounts and the fund-raise activity was to make all extortions appear legal.
Mr. Reddy also asked whether the Ministers and other top TRS leaders paid Income Tax on their ‘earnings’. He reminded Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s announcement that the party would raise about Rs. 30 crore for public meeting and asked the IT Department to collect complete details of funds raised and ensure taxes were paid.
The funds given were not in the form of any donation and were being shown as direct earning, he said and demanded probe into the firms and individuals who paid huge sums as ‘remuneration’ to TRS leaders.
