Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s repeated attempts to wriggle out of the sensational cash-for-vote scandal on technical grounds seem to have fallen flat.
The Supreme Court on Monday admitted the petition filed by YSR Congress party MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy seeking fresh investigation into the case, as it involved Naidu’s role in the scam with the audio tapes clearly establishing the fact that the voice sample in the tapes were that of Naidu.
Admitting the petition, the Supreme Court served a notice on Naidu seeking his explanation. The court wanted the Telangana government to file a counter at the earliest.
It said it would investigate into the matter thoroughly. The petitioner contended that the cash-for-vote scam clearly comes under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In the past, Naidu had managed to get relief from the Hyderabad high court in the case. Quashing the petition of Ramakrishna Reddy, the high court felt that there was no merit in it since the ACB had already filed a charge sheet in the case. The high court disagreed with the ACB Court’s ordered that the probe should involve Naidu’s role.
The YSRC MLA pointed out that it was Naidu whose voice was clearly heard saying: “Mana Vaallu briefed me.. (Our people have briefed me).”
“There is every evidence to prove that Naidu had sought to purchase MLAs and MLCs with ill-gotten money,” Ramakrishna Reddy said.
