Shankar Rao bribe caught on camera

A popular Telugu news channel on Wednesday aired two-year-old footages of the textile minister, Dr P. Shankar Rao, accepting Rs 10 lakh from an unidentified aspirant as a quid-pro-quo for arranging a Congress ticket during the last Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections.

According to the special bulletin of the TV5 news channel, Dr Shankar Rao, who was then Congress MLA from Secunderabad Cantonment constituency, had received Rs 10 lakh in cash from an unidentified person as a bribe to get him a party ticket to contest in the Corporation Elections from an undisclosed division. The footage, which was shot almost two years ago, clearly showed Dr Shankar Rao telling the aspirant after receiving the money: “Ticket is over, leave it now.”

When contacted, the minister told this newspaper that the footage was aimed solely to malign him politically and publicly. “I am giving them a serious warning, let them withdraw the telecast and offer apologies to me by Thursday noon, failing which I am going to proceed against the management of the news channel in court and will also lo-dge a criminal complaint for misconduct,” he said.

“If it was an episode that took place during the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls two years ago, why did they not telecast it immediately? I know Jagan had some stakes in the channel and since I have filed cases against him they want to tarnish my image and defame me. It is all morphed. I never indulge in such things. If I wanted money I would have directly approached the bigwigs against whom I filed several cases and demanded several crores.

“I am not corrupt and that is the reason I filed cases against big personalities. I will continue my fight against corruption even after this and see that the management of the TV channel is put behind bars,” he said.