The bribery episode linked to the recently held legislative council elections has turned into a full-blown war between the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh government.
After an audiotape of an alleged phone conversation between AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and TRS MLA Elvis Stephenson, who was approached with money a day before the voting, was leaked to local television channels yesterday, the two governments have been trading charges.
On May 31, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA A Reventh Reddy, who is now in the custody of Telangana Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), was video taped and caught offering Rs 50 lakh out of a promised Rs 5 crore as advance to Stephenson for voting for one of the TDP candidates.
In the purported audiotape aired by 'T News' channel, which is closely associated with the ruling TRS, and by other Telugu news channels on Sunday, Naidu tells Stephenson that all the commitments given to him will be honored.
The tape comes at a time when the Naidu camp was giving finishing touches to a programme marking the completion of its first year in office on Monday.
After a closed door meeting held by Naidu with senior ministers and the police officials at his residence till late in the evening, the government's media advisor Parakala Prabhakar at around 11 pm yesterday told reporters that the purported conversation was not that of Naidu.
"The government of Andhra Pradesh will see the end of this conspiracy, which is targeted at maligning our chief minister. We will fight it out legally, constitutionally and politically," Prabhakar told media while demanding Telangana government declare the source of the recorded conversation.
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Following Reddy's arrest, major political parties, including TRS, the opposition Congress and YSR Congress have demanded that Naidu's name be included in the Reddy FIR as he was the one who sent his MLA to bribe Stephenson. Going a step further, the leaders of these these parties today demanded the resignation of Naidu while asking him to prove his innocence in the alleged bribery scandal.
Some media reports suggested that the ACB was likely to issue a notice to Naidu in Reddy's case any time soon.
Meanwhile, in reaction to the audio tape leaks, the Andhra Pradesh police in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and other places registered FIRs against Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao and some media channels for attempting to defame Naidu by leaking 'fake audio tape conversation' based on complaints made by TDP leaders and some advocates.
Governor E S L Narashimhan is expected to brief the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the latest developments involving the audio tape leakage in a day or two.