HYDERABAD: It appears the cash-for-vote scandal may haunt Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N Chandrababu Naidu for a long time.
Even as political circles are abuzz with rumours that the Telangana state government is moving forward to nail Naidu in the case, state Home Minister Nayini Narasimha Reddy on Wednesday indicated as much when he predicted “unforeseen developments in politics in the days to come.”
And, it has also now emerged that the Telangana State police might have tapped the phones of Naidu much before trapping TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy red-handed while he was offering a bribe of `5 crore to nominated MLA in the Telangana Assembly Elvis Stephenson on the eve of elections to the Legislative Council.
“ACB has records of telephonic conversation between Naidu and MLA Stephenson. Revanth dared to lure the nominated MLA only because of Naidu’s support. Law will take its own course in this case,” the Home Minister said.
He further said that the ACB officials had enough evidence to also prove that Naidu had spoken to some MLAs of the ruling TRS too over the phone to persuade them to vote for the TDP in the MLC polls.
The Telangana Police, also citing the cash-for-votes scandal involving JMM leader Shibu Soren, say there is enough evidence to name Naidu.
But whether Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will go to that extent remains a million dollar question.
Interestingly, Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP and Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha also demanded that Naidu be made accused no. 1 in the case.
The TRS appears to be further considering the option of initiating disciplinaryaction against MLA Revanth Reddy, who is in jail following his arrest, by getting him suspended from the Telangana State Assembly.
Exemption Sought
As the MLC election (local bodies’ quota) code has come in the way of performing Bhoomi Puja for construction of the new capital city, Amaravati, in Guntur district on June 6, the Andhra Pradesh state government has decided to convince the Election Commission of India (ECI) to exempt the proposed ceremony from the election code.
Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao on Wednesday wrote a letter to the ECI stating that the Bhoomi Puja was decided well before the election schedule was announced.
