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The bribery episode linked to the recently held legislative council elections has become a full-blown battle between the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, after an audiotape of an alleged phone conversation between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislator Elvis Stephenson was leaked to local television channels on Sunday.
Stephenson was earlier approached with money on May 31, a day before voting, by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA A Revanth Reddy, who is now in the custody of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Telangana. Reddy was videotaped and also caught offering Rs 50 lakh in cash out of a promised Rs 5 crore as advance to Stephenson for voting one of the TDP candidates. Reddy took the name of Naidu several times in that video while claiming he had come at the behest of his leader.
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In the latest audio tape aired by ‘T News’ channel, is closely associated with the ruling TRS, and also by other Telugu news channels on Sunday, Naidu tells Stephenson his men had briefed him about everything and all the commitments given to him would be honoured. The tape leak sent jitters in the Naidu camp as his government was giving finishing touches to a programme marking the completion of 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 on Sunday, government’s media advisor Parakala Prabhakar told reporters at around 11 pm the purported voice in the audio tape 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 the media while demanding the Telangana government to declare the source of the recorded conversation.
Following Revanth Reddy’s arrest, major political parties, including the TRS and the opposition Congress and YSR Congress have demanded that Naidu’s name be included in the FIR as he was the one who sent his MLA to bribe Stephenson according to the videotape. Going a step further, the leaders of these parties on Monday demanded the resignation of Naidu while asking him to prove his innocence in the scandal.
With the intent of Telangana government led by K Chandrashekhar Rao becoming clear that it would not leave the cash-for-vote episode that easily, some media reports suggested the ACB was likely to issue notices to Naidu anytime soon.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh police in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and other places registered FIRs against the Telangana chief minister and some media channels for attempting to defame Naidu by leaking a ‘fake audio tape conversation’ based on complaints made by TDP leaders and some advocates.
Governor E S L Narasimhan is expected to brief Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the latest developments involving the audio tape leakage in a day or two.
