TDP legislator on bail for daughter's engagement, Naidu attends

TDP's Telangana legislator A. Revanth Reddy, arrested in the cash-for-vote scam, was released on a 12-hour bail on Thursday for his daughter's engagement, which was also attended by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and other party leaders.

Naidu, whose alleged audio tape in the scam has surfaced, his wife Buvaneswari, son Lokesh, ministers from Andhra Pradesh, and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders from both the states attended the ceremony.

Naidu's brother-in-law and popular actor N. Balakrishna was also among the guests.

The TDP chief blessed the couple and greeted Revanth Reddy and his wife. TDP leaders hugged Revanth Reddy to congratulate him.

The ceremony was held under tight vigil of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) as the court had directed Revanth Reddy not to attend any political activity or talk to media about the case.

The legislator was released from Cherlapally Jail here at 6 a.m. on the directions of a city court, which granted him bail for 12 hours.

An escort team of the ACB took the legislator to his residence in the posh Jubliee Hills and from there to N. Convention Centre in Madhapur, where the ceremony began around 10 a.m.

Revanth Reddy, TDP's deputy leader in the Telangana assembly, was arrested by the ACB on May 31 while he was offering Rs.50 lakh to nominated member Elvis Stephenson to make him vote for the TDP-BJP candidate in the Telangana legislative council elections.

The ACB also arrested two aides of Reddy in a trap laid on a complaint by Stephenson.

An audio tape of Naidu's alleged telephonic conversation with Stephenson was aired on some television channels on Sunday.