Cash-for-vote: AP govt seeks Central probe into Chandrababu Naidu's phone-tapping

Hyderabad, Jun 18: Andhra Pradesh government has sought inquiry by the central government into the alleged illegal tapping of phone of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu by the Telangana government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao, in connection with the cash-for-vote scam.

"We have asked central government to inquire into the issue (phone tapping). There will a comprehensive inquiry into that. He (K Chandrasekhar Rao) will suitably be punished," Andhra Pradesh IT Minister P Raghunath Reddy told reporters here today.

Reddy claimed the Telangana chief minister is "jealous" of Naidu as the latter took up developmental schemes with a vision.

"There is no sentiment (of separate Telangana) now. In order to divert people's attention and get votes in Hyderabad Municipal elections, KCR is trying to do all these things," he alleged.

AP and Telangana governments have locked horns ever since an audio tape containing the purported conversation between Naidu and nominated MLA Elvis Stephenson surfaced on June 7.

The phone-tapping episode is linked to the cash-for-vote scam centred around TDP's Telangana MLA Revanth Reddy, who is currently behind bars, for allegedly offering Rs 50 lakh bribe to Stephenson to vote in favour of a TDP nominee in the Legislative Council elections held earlier this month.

The ACB has so far arrested three persons including Revanth Reddy in this case. The TRS government has alleged that Naidu is the mastermind of the cash-for-vote scam.

Meanwhile, Telangana agriculture minister P Srinivas Reddy demanded that Naidu should admit his "mistake" rather than trying to "cover it up".

He said the Telangana chief minister has nothing to do with the cash-for-vote case. The minister also denied allegations that TRS ever tried to lure TDP MLAs to shift their loyalty to join the KCR-led party.

On its part, Andhra Pradesh government has already set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to handle cases registered against the Telangana chief minister and others in various police stations of the state over alleged phone tapping by his government.

PTI