Accusing Telangana Government of phone tapping, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu demanded a high-level probe into the incident.
Addressing a press conference after meeting Prime Minister Narender Modi on Wednesday late evening, Naidu said that he had explained all the developments to the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. He said when two State Governments are operating from Hyderabad, the joint capital, it was unethical on the part of Telangana Government to tap the phones of his government. He accused the TS Government of violating the sanctity of democracy. “Besides the violation of rules, it has hurt our self-respect,” he said.
Naidu accused the Telangana Government of resorting to blackmailing politics. “Ministers are giving intimidating statements every other day,” he alleged. He said that the issue ‘Cash for Vote’ does not fall into the purview of Anti-Corruption Bureau. He said if the State Government had any information on the issue, then it should have passed on the information to the Election Commission. “Instead of alerting the Election Commission, the Telangana Government misused the ACB and resorted to phone tapping. It also installed voice recording equipments in our premises,” he said.
The AP Chief Minister insisted that the Centre invoke Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to assign Law and Order powers in Hyderabad to the Governor.
Naidu also accused his Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekar Rao of resorting to undemocratic means to win the fifth MLC seat. “With just 63 MLAs, how could he win five MLC seats,” he said while accusing him of luring opposition parties’ MLA for defections. Referring to Talasani Srinivas Yadav, he said one TDP MLA is still serving as minister in KCR’s cabinet. “Is Anti-Defection Law not applicable to TRS?” he asked. (INN)