HYDERABAD: Will the new Congress government withdraw the GO, issued by the previous BRS government, denying general consent to the CBI to investigate cases in Telangana?
An interesting debate is going on in the state after the Centre answered a question in Lok Sabha stating that Telangana and a few other states had withdrawn general consent to the CBI.
The states that had withdrawn general consent to the CBI are Punjab, Jharkhand, Kerala, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Mizoram, Telangana, Meghalaya and Tamil Nadu. The list was provided to members of the Lok Sabha recently by Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh in reply to a question by a member.
The previous government withdrew its consent to the CBI against the backdrop of the ongoing investigation into the Delhi liquor scam in which former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha’s involvement was suspected. The BRS government issued the GO No 51 on August 30, 2022.
The debate is centered around whether Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will retain the GO or withdraw it. If he withdraws the GO, the Congress leaders may have a problem as the CBI might find it easy to book cases against any of them if they have evidence of wrongdoing in any case.
There have been allegations that the BJP-led Centre has been misusing the Central investigation agencies, including the CBI, ED, and Income Tax departments, to wreak political vengeance against its adversaries.
The chief minister may have to take an informed decision on whether or not to withdraw the GO that proscribed the investigation of cases in Telangana by the CBI.