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Amidst heightened political tensions between the two state governments, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on Wednesday held an emergency meeting to counter the possible political fallout if the ACB went ahead with issuing notices to its chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, in the ongoing investigation into the cash-for-vote scam.
On Wednesday, Elvis Stephenson, nominated Anglo-Indian member of the Telangana legislative Assembly, recorded his statement before a local magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The ACB has been pursing the case based on Stephenson’s complaint that he was approached by Naidu’s men with money in exchange for his vote in the legislative council(MLC) elections.
Also on Wednesday, the ACB questioned Vem Narender Reddy, the MLC candidate in whose favour Stephenson was asked to vote. The ACB officials had issued notices to Narender Reddy and to a party MLA late last night asking them to appear before the investigating officers.
Meanwhile, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) today closeted with the DGP, the city police commissioner and the ACB director general before meeting Governor ESL Narasimhan, in an indication of some bigger moves expected to follow soon.
It all started when Naidu’s MLA A Revanth Reddy was caught by the ACB as he was allegedly bribing Stephenson in exchange for his vote in favour of their party candidate in the MLC elections on May 31.
The ACB investigation quickly went beyond the immediate role of Reddy after an alleged phone conversation between the AP chief minister and Stephenson was leaked and aired by local television channels a week later.
As the Telangana government continued with its hot pursuit in this case, the AP government has decided to take similar actions against KCR and his government.
AP has already directed its crime investigation department (CID) to investigate a complaint made by one Jerusalem Muthaiah, who is wanted by the Telangana ACB in the ongoing cash-for-vote scam, that he was threatened by KCR men to implicate Naidu. The government also transferred a case of alleged phone tapping filed against the Telangana government to the CID in a bid to counter the ACB move.
Acchannaidu, a minister in Naidu’s government yesterday warned the Telangana government that they would create a constitutional crisis if the ACB goes anywhere near Naidu. Recently, Naidu had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a long list of complaints, including the alleged phone tapping, against his Telangana counterpart.
