TPCC senior vice-president Mallu Ravi condemned comments made by former IPS officer and BRS MP candidate for Nagarkurnool, R.S. Praveen Kumar, regarding the demand to declare Kollapur-Achampet as a disturbed area. He alleged that Mr. Praveen Kumar was making these comments without knowing the facts behind the murder of BRS leader Sridhar Reddy.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Mr. Ravi sought to know whether any action had been taken by the then government against Mr. Praveen Kumar, the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Ananthapur at that time, when TDP leader Paritala Ravi was murdered in daylight. “The police are investigating Sridhar’s murder case. The inquiry is ongoing, and the culprits will be identified after the completion of the probe,” he said, suggesting that Mr.Praveen Kumar should not politicise the murder.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ravi strongly objected to allegations that Congress leaders were using bulldozers in Kollapur. “The Congress is indeed against the very idea of using bulldozers,” Ravi said, alleging that Mr. Praveen Kumar was behaving like a ‘rogue policeman’. He further alleged that Mr. Praveen Kumar had shot dead many innocent people from downtrodden communities in police ‘encounters’ while serving as the SP of the erstwhile Karimnagar district. He also claimed that the former cop was working at the behest of BRS leaders K. Chandrasekhar Rao and K.T. Rama Rao.
The senior Congress leader stated that Mr. Praveen Kumar had previously criticised Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao while he was with the Bahujan Samaj Party but was now dancing to his tunes, calling him a puppet in the BRS chief’s hands.
Condemning the remarks made against Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy by Mr. Praveen Kumar, he said that the former IPS officer was making baseless allegations out of frustration and warned that he would pay a heavy price for making unwarranted comments.
Mr. Ravi also announced that the Congress would hold a large meeting in Nagarkurnool after June 4 to “disclose all facts”.
