BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Wednesday alleged that the Congress government in Telangana was trying to put him in jail without any evidence. The BRS leader, who was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate on 7 January in connection with the Formula E race scam, said he would take a decision on appearing before the central agency only after consulting his lawyers. Just a day ago, the High Court extended its interim order, prohibiting his arrest till the verdict was announced.

Dismissing corruption allegations against him on Wednesday, Rao said that the case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau was baseless. He said, “This is the sixth attempt to arrest me, yet Revanth Reddy did not find anything against me.” He claimed that there was no corruption even of a single paisa in the Formula E race. The government had merely stepped in when the sponsors backed out.

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The Enforcement Directorate, which is also investigating the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, has summoned the former minister, the former secretary of the department, and the chief engineer of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to appear before it. The bureaucrats will appear before the agency on 2 and 3 January. Rao even claimed that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had unilaterally cancelled the Formula E Race without taking the state cabinet into confidence. Hence, a case should be registered against Reddy as well if an FIR was lodged against him for bypassing the cabinet while organising the event.

The former minister slammed the Congress ministers and alleged they were raising money from contractors of the proposed Regional Ring Road to send the funds to the High Command. He said his party will soon take up the issue of defections of BRS MLAs to Congress and approach the Supreme Court.