This Article is From Jun 22, 2015

Attorney-General Advises Telangana Governor to Monitor Cash-for-Votes Probe

Attorney-General Advises Telangana Governor to Monitor Cash-for-Votes Probe

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu has accused the Governor of partisanship.

New Delhi: Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi has advised ESL Narasimhan, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, to step in to the bitter fight between the two chief ministers over the cash for vote issue. The Governor, he has said, should monitor the investigation into the matter.

Mr Narasimhan had recently sought the opinion of the Attorney-General regarding the ways of dealing with the crisis. Earlier, he had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The Governor has special powers under the Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, since the two states share the capital, Hyderabad, and two different police forces have jurisdiction in the city," Mr Rohatgi advised the Governor.

Under the circumstances, the Act says the Governor has the responsibility of maintaining law and order in Hyderabad. "Hence, the Governor can summon the two state police and get them to report to him on this case and he can monitor it," Mr Rohatgi said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu claims his phone had been illegally tapped on the orders of the Telangana Chief Minister following the alleged attempt by a legislator of his party to buy votes ahead of the legislative council elections in Telangana.

Last week, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the issue. Sources said he had demanded a probe into the matter. Reports say he had also accused the Governor of partisanship.

Mr Naidu and his Telangana counterpart, K Chandrasekhar Rao, are currently fighting over which police will be deployed on his security detail.

His party, the Telugu Desam Party, has demanded that the Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh reorganisation Act be implemented, under which Law and order in Hyderabad will be under the charge of the Governor.
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