TDP accuses NTV of airing fake survey

Hyderabad: The political slugfest ahead of the elections appears to be spreading to the media organisations as well. The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Tuesday charged a leading Telugu news channel with conducting "fake surveys" to project YSR Congress Party as a dominant political force in Seemandhra.

The party's Rajya Sabha member CM Ramesh accused the city-based satellite television channel NTV of commissioning fake surveys to drum up support for YSRCP to improve its prospects in the upcoming general elections.

He also alleged that the TV channel colluded with YSRCP president YS Jaganmohan Reddy and hatched a conspiracy to defeat the TDP in the ensuing polls by airing the fake surveys.

Ramesh said that they would approach the Supreme Court to put an end to such doctored and biased surveys designed to influence the voters.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Ramesh referred to an SMS poll conducted by the said TV Channel on film actor Pawan Kalyan's negative comments against Jagan on Tuesday morning.

He added that the survey found that 60 per cent of the participants opposed the comments made by the actor while 40 per cent of the participants supported them.

He further said that he had launched an investigation into the SMS poll issue to find out the genuineness of the survey and was shocked to find that a staffer of Sakshi Media group was involved in it.

'Around 2000 SMSes were sent from a single phone number (90102-44644). When we checked that number on True Caller Application, we found that the number belonged to one Yadagiri Reddy, a staffer of Sakshi TV.

A total of 2000 SMSes were sent from the same number for the SMS question," the TDP leader said.He challenged the NTV group to prove his findings wrong and offered to quit the Parliament if his allegations were proved wrong.

He also said that a city based firm conducted the SMS poll for NTV. Ramesh asked the TV Channel not to broadcast fake surveys to help a "criminal" like Jagan. He predicted a landslide victory for TDP in the just concluded Municipal Elections.

He said that the TDP would capture over 60 Municipalities without any fight and would face some resistance from the YSRCP in only 30 Municipalities. While referring to the online surveys being conducted by the TV channels, the TDP leader said that they should be based on genuine information.

'We should not cheat the people for the sake of some votes by airing such fake surveys as they would harm the society in the long run,' he bemoaned.