Hyderabad: The Telangana government is confident that the Centre will not invoke Section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act in the aftermath of the cash-for-vote case.
“It will not happen. There is no scope. We have complete faith that the Centre will not invoke this rule in a corruption case. This is the first time in the world that a political leader like Mr Naidu is seeking liberty for corruption and exploitation,” TRS deputy floor leader B. Vinod Kumar told DC.
In a day of hectic political and police activity in both states, Telangana ACB director general A.K. Khan met Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao twice and also Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan along with Hyderabad police commissioner Mahender Reddy and briefed them about the progress in the case.
The meetings led to the speculation that Mr Naidu, a Union minister and two TD MPs were likely to be served notices anytime by the ACB.
While AP ministers harped on implementation of Section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act, the Telangana government rebuffed the same saying that the Centre would not provide liberty to anyone to indulge in corrupt activities.
Mr Vinod Kumar said the TRS government had taken up the Section 8 issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Rajnath Singh and other central ministers in the past, citing peace in Hyderabad, and he did not see any reason for the Centre to invoke the rule as demanded by the AP government.
Asked whether the state government would send a report on the entire episode and the present situation, he said there was no need since the Governor and other central agencies would do it. “The Centre is well aware of the cash-for-vote scam,” he added.
Meanwhile, Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma denied the reports that he had complained to the Governor regarding the deployment of AP police force. Mr Sharma said, “We haven’t complained regarding AP police deployment.”
HM says no comments
Refusing to comment on the cash-for-vote scam, Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the Union home secretary will look into all aspects of the case.
While addressing a press conference in New Delhi, he said that the home secretary is also entrusted with implementing the AP Reorganisation Act, including Section 8.
When asked about the cash-for-vote scam and the ACB trying to serve notices to AP CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, Mr Singh said: “No comments. The home secretary will look into it.” However, according to TD sources, soon after Mr Naidu submitted a representation to the PM and Mr Singh, both of them had asked Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to implement Section 8.
FSL to reveal tape truth
Rajya Sabha MP C.M. Ramesh said he hasn’t got any notice from the ACB in the cash-for-vote scam. “Why will I get notice? TS government is playing mind games,” he said.
A senior police official close to the investigation said, “The report will reveal if the tapes are cut-and-paste as alleged. The source of tapes will also be found. The report will be submitted in the special court for ACB cases and we will file a memo for collecting test voices for making controlled spectrographs of the accused and suspects.”
Senior advocate T. Sriranga Rao said, “FSL expert’s opinion is crucial. The test voice shall be recorded after that. There seems to be ample evidence in the case.” The ACB is trying to trace the origin of the bribe money.
