TRS candidate claims he paid Rs 10cr for LS seat

HYDERABAD:One of election's worst-kept secrets is now out, if Telangana Rashtra Samithi'sLok Sabha candidate from Secunderabad S Venkat Reddy is to be believed. Heclaimed on Friday that he "bought'' the seat by paying Rs 10 crore to the partyleaders.Venkat's admission in full public view came when he wasconfronted by rival candidates at the Telangana Bhavan - the TRS headquarters -soon after the second TRS list was out. S Rambabu, a failed aspirant, and hismen then beat Venkat and chased him out of the party office. Venkat reportedlysuffered injuries on his leg.The Secunderabad seat covers the betterpart of Hyderabad, including Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, and has beenallotted to TRS by the Grand Alliance of TDP, CPM, CPI and TRS. Analystswondered how much Venkat would spend on electioneering if he was willing to giveRs 10 crore to obtain the ticket.TRS supremo K Chandrasekhara Raowasn't available for comments. Sources said Venkat is a builder who had made afortune in the economic boom of 2005-07.Sources at the TelanganaBhawan said one aspirant for the Serilingampally assembly seat (covering the ITdistrict of Hi Tech city and Gachibowli), which is yet to be announced by theTRS, has allegedly paid the party leaders Rs 7 crore for theseat.Pandemonium broke out at the TRS headquarters soon after thesecond list of candidates for the LS and assembly seats were announced onFriday. Supporters of N Venkatesharlu, who didn't secure the Bhupalapalleassembly seat, held TRS MP B Vinod Kumar responsible for his failed attemptedand ransacked the MP's house about 150 km away in Warangaldistrict.The allotment of the Zaheerabad LS seat to Syed Yusuf Ali,who had quit TDP to join TRS recently, triggered protests. Similarly, supportersof S Laxma Reddy and P Raghupathi Rao, who were seeking tickets from Jadcherlaand Gajwel Assembly seats respectively, held protests against denial of seats totheir leaders.