The YSRCP on Saturday lashed out at Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for his remarks on the bifurcation of the Hyderabad High Court and how it might affect the corruption case against YSRCP President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. Stating that the remarks were “derogatory and attracted the provisions of insulting the judiciary”, the YSRCP claimed that it was a serious offence.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Naidu had said that the division of the court between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had come at a time when the case against Jaganmohan Reddy was coming to the trial stage, and it might go back to square one. "Now with the division of the court between two states, the judge will be also transferred and the case will have to restart," said Naidu while indirectly hinting at a conspiracy by the Central government to save the Leader of Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad on Saturday, YSRCP spokesperson C Ramachandraiah said that the remarks attract legal action for ‘insulting the courts’.
“The division of High Court has been approved by the President, and the TDP leader speaking in such a derogatory way is a fit case for the judiciary to take suo moto action and prosecute him. The institution does not work for individuals and everyone has to function within the framework of the constitution,” he said.
“If people like Naidu think he is above the law, it is a display of sheer arrogance, which cannot be tolerated in a civil society,” Ramachandraiah added.
He also pointed out that the state government had earlier promised to finish the construction of the High Court by December 15, but had since changed its stand on the issue.
Jagan, as the YSR Congress chief, is the prime accused in the cases relating to alleged investments made by various private firms and individuals in his businesses as a quid pro quo for various favours bestowed on them by the government of his father YS Rajasekhara Reddy in undivided Andhra Pradesh between 2004 and 2009.
The Centre, earlier in the week, had issued a notification that said that Andhra Pradesh will have its own High Court from January 1 at its capital Amaravati, while the existing High Court in Hyderabad will become the High Court of Telangana.
Naidu had also found fault with the Central government for not giving time for the court employees to move from Hyderabad to Amaravati and said that the High Court would function from the old building of the Chief Minister's Camp Office till the new building at Amaravati was ready.