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As Telugu Desam Party completes one year of power in Andhra Pradesh today, the cash for vote scandal hits the party President and the state Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s image very badly.
Last week, Revanth Reddy, a ruling party MLA of Andhra Pradesh allegedly caught red-handed and arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), while offering bribe to Mr. Stephenson, a Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislator to influence his vote in Telangana legislative council elections to be held the next day. The deal was reportedly for Rs. five crore, of which Rs. 50 lakh in cash was seized by officials.
Later, a local news channel in Telangana, TNews, belonging to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's family, has aired an audio recording that they claim is proof that the cash-for-vote case had the full backing of Mr Naidu, the party president.
TDP condemns the allegations by saying the tapes are doctored and as an act of retaliation, they filed cases of defamation, and illegal phone-tapping against Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. At least three cases have been filed by TDP leaders against KCR in Krishna district alone; cases have also been filed also in Visakhapatnam, Suryapet, and Nalgonda.
Telangana's Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy has demanded that Chandrababu Naidu be "made accused number one" in the case.
On the other hand, Advisor to the Andhra Pradesh Government backs Chandrababu Naidu. "I am telling you that authentically this is not the conversation that was of the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh... We are going to fight this out constitutionally, legally and politically," he said.
Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh as India's 29th state in June last year. Hyderabad, with its booming economy and Software Central status, will be a shared capital for 10 years, after which it will belong to Telangana. Both Chandrababu Naidu and KCR have made sarcastic comments on each other in the past and have appeared like bitter foes who can't co-exist in the same city.
