On the day Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu carried out the ‘Bhoomi Puja’ for his new state capital, Amravati, a seemingly well timed, leaked audio tape of a purported conversation between Naidu and nominated MLA Elvys Stephenson, gave a new twist to the cash-for-votes controversy after its airing on various local TV channels.
The conversation reported in the tapes suggests that Naidu was heard giving “assurance of all sorts” to Stephenson if the MLA voted in favour of the TDP nominee in the Telangana Legislative Council election.
The reports were strongly denied by Parakala Prabhakar, Advisor (Communications) to the Andhra Government, who said that the tapes were fabricated and the AP government will take up the issue seriously.
Here’s what he has to say.
Prabhakar further alleged that the Telangana Government was trying to malign the image of the AP chief minister by resorting to cheap tactics.
It is not the chief minister’s conversation. How come they are available outside. Telangana Government has to give answer to this. Telangana CM and Home minister should give answers.
– Parakala said
He also said that the Telangana CM was trying to mislead the people of Andhra Pradesh by resorting to “cheap tricks”.
TDP MLA Revanth Reddy and two others who were arrested in the cash-for-vote case on May 31, are in the process of questioned by the anti-corruption bureau of Telangana for allegedly trying to bribe Elvis Stephenson, the nominated MLA, to vote for a TDP nominee in the Telangana Legislative Council election.
Stephenson had filed a complaint based on which ACB officials held Revanth, Sebastian Harry and Uday Simha after they were caught on tape while allegedly handing over Rs 50 lakh to Stephenson.
Telangana’s Home Minister had alleged earlier that Naidu was the key person in the issue.
And the plot thickens, let’s see how this cookie crumbles!
(With Inputs from PTI)
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