Telangana: Barbs exchanged over minister, ex min buying undervalued luxury cars from arrested bizman

Political parties in Telangana are trading barbs over the revelation that a sitting minister of the Congress government and a former minister in the BRS have purchased imported luxury cars from Basharat Khan Patan, arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in May this year for committing customs fraud worth Rs 100 crore.

The BRS has hit out at the BJP after Union Minister of State Bandi Sanjay Kumar insinuated that BRS working president, KT Rama Rao, had bought land cruisers imported by Basharat Khan Patan, accusing them of remaining silent about Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, a sitting minister in the state government, and other Congress leaders.

Advertisement

In May, the DRI arrested a Hyderabad-based car dealer, Basharat Khan Patan, in Surat in connection with evasion of customs duty on imported luxury cars. He was accused of importing eight cars but deliberately undervaluing them to evade duties. Khan was found to be well-connected with several politicians and other VIPs who bought these undervalued luxury vehicles or rented them from his showroom, SK Car Lounge.

Following the allegations raised by Union MoS of Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay against Rao, BRS spokesperson Krishank said, “While everyone wants to attack KTR, no one is asking Congress minister Ponguleti’s (Srinivas Reddy) Lexus purchased from SK Car Lounge.” He also accused Congress leader Gali Anil Kumar of buying a Land Cruiser from Basharat Khan.

However, Congress activists lashed out, pointing out that according to the date on the receipt, Gali Anil Kumar was in BRS in March 2024 when he was given a ticket for the MP elections from Zaheerabad. He had promptly rejoined the Congress in July after losing the elections. Union minister Bandi Sanjay had sought investigations against KT Rama Rao, alleging, “ Is the car party (BRS) running on smuggled cars? Why is Twitter Tillu (KT Rama Rao) seen in land cruisers imported by luxury car scam-accused Basharat Khan, arrested by DRI Ahmedabad? Why are they registered with companies linked to KCR’s family?”

The BRS has accused the Congress and BJP of launching personal attacks on KT Rama Rao while he has been raising issues related to the people of the state, such as the shortage of urea and recruitment through the public service commission.