File photo of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu
Forensic reports on the audio-video recordings in the cash-for-vote case are yet to come, but the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have started holding independent meetings to discuss the road ahead.
AK Khan, the chief of Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau, which is probing the case, briefed chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday morning. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu held a series of meetings with the police, intelligence chiefs, his party's senior leaders and ministers.
Telangana's anti-corruption agency has sent a fresh notice to Telegu Desam Party (TDP) legislator Sandra Venkat Veeraiah, on Tuesday night in the cash-for-vote scandal.
Mr Naidu claims his phone had been illegally tapped on the orders of the Telangana Chief Minister. Last week, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the issue. Sources said he had demanded a probe into the matter.
Reports say Mr Naidu has even accused Governor ESL Narasimhan of partisanship. His party, the (TDP), has demanded that the Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh reorganisation Act be implemented, under which Law and order in Hyderabad will be under the charge of the governor.
The police chief of Telangana and the police commissioner of Hyderabad met the Governor today. Sources said they have complained against the Andhra Pradesh government for replacing Telangana police on security detail for Mr Naidu and his ministers, with their Andhra Pradesh counterparts. The state police chief has so far denied this; Hyderabad is under the jurisdiction of Telangana police.
A private television channel, NTV, which aired the audio video recording of TDP legislator Revanth Reddy at the residence of nominated lawmaker Elvis Stephenson and also the phone call purportedly by Mr Naidu, has in the meanwhile been blacked out in Andhra Pradesh.
The audio recording, alleged to be a phone recording of Chandrababu Naidu speaking to Elvis Stephenson, had first aired on local Telugu channel T News, which is owned partly by KCR's family. On basis of the recording, Mr Rao's party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, had claimed that Mr Naidu had been involved in the bribery scandal.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau says the results of the forensic test, which can settle the issue, will take time to come.