The YSR Congress party leaders are in a state of confusion in their eagerness to defend their party MLA from Macherla, Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy, who has been booked for allegedly damaging the electronic voting machine (EVM) at a polling station on May 13.
Initially, YSRCP leaders like Gurajala MLA Kasu Mahesh Reddy sought to defend the MLA, suggesting that he might have done it out of anger against the rigging of votes by the TDP at the Palwaigate polling station since the morning of May 13.
Mahesh Reddy even alleged that the TDP agents had driven away the YSRCP agents from the polling booth, which angered Pinnelli.
Another senior leader and minister, Ambati Rambabu, alleged that the police were complicit with the TDP leaders in the rigging.
On Thursday, Ambati made yet another allegation, claiming that the Election Commission (EC) had colluded with the TDP and leaked the video of Pinnelli damaging the EVM to the media. He demanded that the videos of the rigging should also be disclosed.
By making these statements, the YSRCP leaders have more or less confirmed that Pinnelli had indeed destroyed the EVM.
Lending credence to this theory, Pinnelli went absconding and evaded the police, who were on the lookout for him to arrest him as per the EC's directions.
However, by Thursday evening, the YSRCP leaders changed their stance, suggesting that the video could be morphed and that Pinnelli was being implicated in a false case.
“How can the EC order his arrest based on a video posted by Lokesh? It could even be a morphed one,” Pinnelli’s lawyer argued in the high court while seeking anticipatory bail for the MLA.
He reminded that the police had registered a case saying some unknown persons had damaged the EVM.
“It was only after the TDP brought out the video that the police included Pinnelli’s name in the case without even giving him an opportunity to explain his stand,” the lawyer pointed out.
It remains to be seen whether the YSRCP leaders will stick to this stance or change their version again.