Hyderabad, October 12: The Income Tax Department officials on Friday conducted raids at multiple properties linked to TDP MP CM Ramesh in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. CM Ramesh, considered a close aide of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, called the raids political witch-hunting for speaking against the Modi government.

The tax officials raided residence of CM Ramesh in Hyderabad and at Potladurti in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. Searches were also conducted at the offices of Ramesh's company Rithwik Projects. The raids, which began simultaneously in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh around 8:00 am, were still underway. Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha member, was in Delhi when properties linked to him were raided. TDP Leader Gets Death Threat from Maoists Group.

Ramesh had founded Rithwik Projects Pvt Ltd in 1999 for construction and infrastructure works. Within 14 years, the firm has grown a total turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore, according to a media report. There have been a series of IT raids on TDP leaders in the past ten days. Searches were conducted at the houses and offices of TDP leader and industrialist Beeda Masthan Rao in Andhra Pradesh on October 5.

Reacting to the developments, Ramesh alleged that the tax raids were witch-hunting by the Modi government for fighting against the injustice done to Andhra Pradesh. "This is a clear-cut case of political vendetta. Centre has been targeting our leaders from last 15 days. The same thing happened in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal and now Andhra Pradesh. Whoever is opposing them is being targeted," the TDP MP said.

Earlier, there were also reports of IT raids on Narayana group of educational institutions run by TDP leader and Andhra Pradesh Minister K. Narayana. He, however, denied the reports. IT officials also raided the premises of former TDP leader Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad last week. Revanth, who was once a close aide of Naidu, is currently the working president of Congress party's Telangana unit. (With agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 12, 2018 11:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).