Hours after the Andhra Pradesh Election Commission ordered for the transfer of Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) A B Venkateswara Rao and two other senior IPS officers, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu shot off a letter to the EC on Wednesday, asking the body overseeing the elections, to reconsider its decision.
Stating that the Election Commission of India was contradicting its “own guidelines, being totally biased and violated the principles of natural justice,” Naidu also questioned if the Commission had the jurisdiction to transfer the officers.
“I strongly protest the manner in which the above transfers have been ordered. It is sad that the ECI has ordered the transfer of the officers just based on a complaint given by YSRCP without a preliminary enquiry,” Naidu wrote.
The ECI was reportedly acting on a complaint filed by YSRCP General Secretary Vijayasai Reddy that the phones of senior party leaders Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Talasila Raghuram, among others, were being tapped by the state government.
However, the ECI did not mention the reason for the transfer in its order.
In his letter on Wednesday, Naidu claimed that the ADGP, Intelligence was not related to the conduct of the elections, but was responsible for providing security to the CM, his cabinet colleagues and MPs and MLAs.
“Transferring him at this hour is nothing but a deep rooted well-orchestrated evil design born out of criminal conspiracy hatched by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, duly abetted by Telangana CM Chandrasekhar Rao and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi,” Naidu said.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief also alleged that the ECI did not take the comments of the state government either before issuing such a direction.
“The transfer of Kadapa SP Rahul Dev Sharma when he is enquiring into a ghastly murder of Vivekananda Reddy, a former minister, is again highly objectionable,” he wrote.
Vivekananda Reddy, a former MP was murdered on March 15. While initially it was believed that the politician had died of a cardiac arrest, police confirmed after investigation that he was murdered. Vivekananda had injury marks on his head, hands and back.
He was the brother of former Chief Minister Y S Rajsekhar Reddy and uncle of present Leader of Opposition Jagan Mohan Reddy. The murder triggered a row in the state, with the TDP and YSRCP politicising the death.
“I am extremely pained to write this letter in view of the unjustifiable and partisan attitude of the ECI. As you might be knowing, I have been provided Z+ category security in view of the severe threat perception...transferring the DG intelligence at this critical juncture is a severe blow to my election campaign,” Naidu wrote in his letter on Wednesday.
The Andhra Pradesh CM also requested that the ECI review its decision and cancel the transfer orders which were issued.