Telangana Polls: ED Searches Congress Candidate Vivek Venkatswamy’s Premises In FEMA Case

Vivek Venkatswamy, who joined the Congress party after resigning from BJP earlier this month is contesting the Telangana polls from Chennur constituency.

ED searches Telangana polls Congress Candidate Vivek Venkatswamy’s premises ( Image Source :X/@VivekVenkatswam )

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday searched the premises of Congress candidate in the upcoming Telangana polls, Vivek Venkatswamy and some others as part of a foreign exchange violation probe, reported PTI quoting official sources. 

According to the report, the federal agency is undertaking the searches under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in Chennur and Hyderabad, said the officials. 

Venkatswamy, who has been fielded by Congress from Chennu constituency joined the party early this month in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi after resigning from the Bharatiya Janata Party. 

The former MP is the richest politician contesting the November 30 Telangana polls with declared assets worth over Rs 600 crore. 

As per the PTI report, the Congress candidate and his wife own movable assets valued at Rs 377 crore, mostly shares in various companies, including his own Visaka Industries, which was founded in 1981.

As per the affidavit filed by him, the family's immovable assets stood at over Rs 225 crore and liabilities or loans owed by Venkatswamy and his wife amounted to Rs 41.5 crore.

His annual income grew to Rs 6.26 crore during the last fiscal from Rs 4.66 crore in FY19 while that of his wife rose to Rs 9.61 crore from Rs 6.09 crore during the same period, according to the affidavit, reported PTI. 

The voting to 119-member Telangana Legislative Assembly will be held in a single phase on November 30 and the votes will be counted on December 3 along with Mizoram. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. 

The Congress has so far announced the names of 118 candidates that would contest the November 30 polls in direct contest with ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi.