While the Huzurabad election campaign has reached a crescendo and all the main contenders are pulling all stops, some familiar BJP faces are missing in action. Why are they missing in action? Is it because they are sullen and unhappy? Or it is because the party leadership finds them of no use any longer?

Several BJP leaders are spending days on end in Huzurabad addressing street corner meetings, road shows and small meetings. State president Bandi Sanjay, union minister Kishan Reddy, senior leaders Dk Arunka and Vijayasanthi, star crowd-pullers like Raghunangan Rao, D Aravind and others are doing lot of leg work in Huzurabad.

But prominent leader and MLA Raja Singh is not being seen anywhere in the campaign. He was an active campaigner in Dubbak. But, in Huzurabad, he is missing from action. Sources say that Eatala Rajender did not want Raja Singh to campaign in Huzurabad as it could mean losing some hardcore Muslim votes. Eatala is worried that Raja Singh’s speeches could lead to a blowback on the BjP.

Similarly former BJP state chief and now OBC morcha president Dr Laxman has not toured Huzurabad so far. With just two days left for the end of the campaigning, he is unlikely to tour in Huzurabad. Similarly, former president and senior hand N Indrasena Reddy too is missing in action. Indrasen Reddy, who is disappointed at not finding a place in the national executive committee, is not even visiting the party office. He is an expert in dealing with the Central Election Commission on election irregularities. But, he has not extended his services to Eatala.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Friday complained to the Election Commission that the BJP candidate in Huzurabad by-election and his supporters are distributing money to voters.

A delegation of TRS leaders led by party General Secretary M. Sreenivas Reddy met Chief Electoral Officer Shashank Goel and submitted a memorandum. They claimed that “strange” accounts are being opened in various banks in Huzurabad and BJP candidate Eatala Rajender and his men are parking illegal money in these accounts for the purpose of distributing the money to the voters.

The TRS leaders said they have reliable information that Rajender and his supporters particularly Bhadrayya are opening bank accounts in various banks in different names and transferring huge money into them in a very organised manner with the purpose of utilising the same amounts for distribution to voters on the eve of the by-election, scheduled on October 30.

“This activity is a grave offence and out and out corrupt practice under the provisions of various penal laws as well as in contravention of model code of conduct,” they said, demanding a thorough investigation to find out how many such bank accounts are opened in Huzurabad.

“The pattern in which the amounts are put into the accounts for distribution among the voters clearly establishes that BJP and its candidate Eatala Rajender resorting to corrupt practices to buy the voters in order to win the election illegally,” it said.

The TRS delegation said though they brought to the notice of the Election Commission several illegalities of BJP and its candidate, no action was taken.

“Unless you direct the appropriate investigating agencies to investigate the issue, it is going to cause irreparable loss to our party’s legitimate prospects in the election. If no meaningful action is taken, it would cause immense damage to the democratic process and fair play in the election,” the TRS memorandum said.