HYDERABAD: The cash-for-vote scandal took a dramatic turn on Sunday night with an alleged telephonic conversation between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and nominated MLA in the Telangana Assembly Elvis Stephenson surfacing.
The allegations came amid reports that the anti-corruption bureau of the Telangana police may serve notices on the TDP chief on Monday.
The audio tape, in which allegedly Naidu assures the MLA of his support and willingness to honour commitments made to him by his party, was leaked on the eve of ‘Maha Sankalpam’, a massive public meeting at Mangalagiri, AP’s new capital region, to be addressed by the AP CM to mark the completion of his one year in office.
The TDP government was quick to rubbish the tape. AP government’s advisor Parakala Prabhakar clarified that “it is not Naidu’s voice”. The tape was made public moments after Naidu’s one-on-one with governor ESL Narasimhan at Raj Bhavan here, reportedly over the cash-for-vote scandal and on the alleged tapping of phones by the Telangana government.
Minutes after their meeting, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao too called on the governor and had discussions with him reportedly over the cash-for-vote case and related developments.
The tape comes approximately a week after Telangana TDP MLA A Revanth Reddy was caught red-handed while he was offering a bribe of `5 crore to the nominated MLA on the eve of Telangana Legislative Council elections in his bid to persuade the latter to vote for his party’s candidate. Revanth, who was arrested the same day, is now in ACB custody. It appears that the issue will now reach the Centre’s doorstep. Not only the governor but also Chief Ministers of both AP and Telangana are expected to undertake a Delhi Yatra from Tuesday one after the other. The governor and Naidu are likely to fly on Tuesday, while Rao may leave for the national capital on June 12.
TDP sources told Express that Naidu, who was with the governor for over half an hour, ostensibly to invite him for Monday’s Mangalagiri meeting, discussed the Revanth issue at length. “The Chief Minister expressed his displeasure over the way the Telangana government tapped the phones of his ministers and other top officials in Hyderabad, the common capital of both the States,” the sources said.
Sources added that during his Delhi visit, Naidu will press for invoking Section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, which empowers the governor to have control over law and order in Hyderabad. The audio tape was first aired by a vernacular channel, owned by Rao’s TRS and later, by YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s channel and a few others. The source of the tape, however, has not been revealed.
Efforts to contact officials of the ACB, which is investigating the case, proved futile.
Expectedly, Opposition parties, YSRC and the Congress, demanded Naidu’s immediate resignation. “Naidu should resign and cooperate with the investigating agencies,” said YSRC leader and former APCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana. Political circles are abuzz with rumours that the ACB might soon quiz Naidu over his alleged involvement in the cash-for-vote scam. Soon after the audio tape hit the airwaves, Naidu went into a huddle with AP DGP JV Ramudu and other senior officials at his residence and reportedly decided to lodge a formal complaint against the Telangana government with the Centre for tapping his phones.
“How can the TS government eavesdrop on phones of a Chief Minister of neighbouring AP in Hyderabad when the city continues to be the common capital?” questioned AP Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu.