BJP President Amit Shah on Saturday responded to allegations by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that a non-bailable warrant issued against Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu by a Maharashtra court, was a conspiracy by the Central government to target the latter.
Speaking at a press meet in Telangana, Amit Shah said that the BJP was not responsible at all, as it was the Congress which was in power at the state and the Centre, when the case was filed against Naidu and others.
“The case was filed when Congress was in power in AP, Maharashtra and also at the Centre. The case has been going on since 2010. How can the BJP be held responsible for this? Now the same Naidu is trying to ally with Congress, which had filed cases against him. This shows his political opportunism,” Shah was quoted as saying.
He also said that the warrant was part of the legal system's procedure and added that the BJP had nothing to do with it.
"Our leaders have also been summoned in a variety of cases and we have honored the courts. If he does not honour the courts, law will take its own course," Shah told reporters.
Judicial Magistrate First Class, Dharmabad Court (Nanded), N.R. Gajbhiye on Thursday issued the non-bailable warrants against Naidu and his cabinet colleagues, Irrigation Minister D.U. Rao, Social Welfare Minister G. Kamalakar and 12 others in a 2010 case pertaining to an agitation against the Babli Barrage on the Godavari river.
The police have been ordered to arrest them and present them before the court at the next hearing on September 21.
The incident took place when the TDP had organised massive protests against what it termed the "illegal constructions" of the Babli Barrage project by the Maharashtra government allegedly to divert the Godavari river water from Telangana region of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh.
At that time, Naidu, who was the Leader of Opposition in the state, along with 40 legislators, had entered the barrage vicinity flouting prohibitory orders clamped there.
The police had caned some protesters and later arrested all of them.
Later, as Naidu refused to take bail, he was sent back to Hyderabad by a flight, and subsequently cases were filed against all agitators on various counts.
Naidu, in his first reaction, said he was not afraid of the NBW as he did not commit any crime.
"During my entire political career, I always worked for the people," he told a public meeting in Kurnool on Friday.
IANS inputs