'Isn’t it your voice in the tape?' KCR hits out at Naidu over cash-for-vote scam

Telangana caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday lashed out at his Andhra Pradesh counterpart and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, questioning the latter's role in the cash-for-vote scam, which rocked the state in 2015. 

"Is it not true that you were involved in the cash-for-vote case? Is it lies that you arranged for everything and he (Revanth Reddy) got caught? Do you not have a role? Isn't it your voice in the tape?" KCR asked.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief was addressing a massive public rally in the state's Wanaparthy district.

Hitting out at Naidu and the Congress, KCR said, "Do you want to be a slave of Vijayawada or Delhi? Shouldn't decisions for Telangana be made in the state itself?"

Last week, officials of the Income Tax department reportedly conducted raids at the properties belonging to Congress leader Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad and across Telangana. His house on Road Number 45 in Jubilee Hills and his properties in Kodangal in Mahbubnagar district were raided.

Revanth Reddy, who joined Congress after quitting the TDP in 2017, was recently appointed as the working president of the party. He is often seen as a bitter critic of KCR.

Cash-for-vote scam

Revanth Reddy was caught red-handed by the ACB on May 31, 2015, while he was offering Rs 50 lakh to Independent MLA Stephenson to make him vote for the TDP-BJP candidate in the elections to the Telangana legislative council.

ACB, which had laid a trap on a complaint by Stephenson, also arrested Revanth Reddy's aides. TRS leaders have been alleging that TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is the mastermind in the scam and he should be booked.

The ACB had earlier said that there were 516 telephone conversation records in the phone of Sebastian, one of the aides arrested, of which 102 are related to the cash-for-vote case.

However, the most important phone call was one alleged to be between Elvis Stephenson and Chandrababu Naidu.

The audio tape was first played by T News, a Telugu news channel owned by the ruling TRS party and was later picked up by others. 

During the conversation, Naidu purportedly assured the nominated member that he was with him. "Our people briefed me. I am with you don't bother. For everything I am with you. What all they spoke, we will honour," Naidu was heard telling the legislator.