Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is the mastermind of cash-for-vote scandal, claims TRS
Highlights
- Lawmaker from Naidu's party seen offering bribe on tape
- Naidu was involved, he should be named, court is told
- Court asks police to examine evidence against Naidu
Hyderabad:
A court in Hyderabad today has ordered the police to investigate whether there is enough evidence against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to list him as an accused in a major corruption scam.
The court has asked the police for a response by September 29.
Mr Naidu heads the Telugu Desam Party or TDP. Last year, one of its legislators in neighbouring Telangana was caught on video, offering what the police described as a hefty bribe for another lawmaker's vote in a local election. Investigators said the deal had been set for five crores. The lawmaker caught on tape, Revanth Reddy, was among those arrested and granted bail.
When the region of Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh into its own state, Hyderabad was declared the shared capital between both for 10 years. The ruling party in Telangana, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS, which is headed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, clamoured for action against the Andhra Chief Minister, claiming that secretly-recorded phone conversations revealed him as the mastermind of the cash-for-vote scandal.
Mr Naidu and his ministers in rebuttal said that their phones had been illegally tapped. While forensic labs certified the tapes as authentic, Mr Naidu's role remains unclear since he was not asked to submit a voice sample. Opposition leaders say that is evidence that Mr Naidu and his counterpart in Telangana have made a covert arrangement to ensure the case goes nowhere.
The request for Mr Naidu to be named an accused in the case has been made by a member of the YSR Congress, an opposition party in Andhra Pradesh.