Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu addresses a public meeting in Mangalgiri
An all-out war is threatening to break out between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his counterpart from Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao after audio recordings were made public on a Telangana news channel that seemed to suggest that the cash-for-votes scam in which a legislator from Mr Naidu's party was arrested last week, was backed by him.
Addressing a huge gathering at Mangalgiri this evening, Mr Naidu said K Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR's government was trying to humiliate the people of Andhra Pradesh. He also issued an open threat to KCR: "How dare you try to conspire against me? If you have Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and police in Hyderabad, I also have my ACB and police in Hyderabad."
Mr Naidu said KCR had completed his state's formation day celebrations but deliberately decided to spoil the party for Andhra Pradesh as they were about to celebrate 'Maha Sankalpam' or the great resolution, to build a capital and a state that the rest of the country would envy.
Mr Naidu said an attack on him was an attack on the people who had elected him.
"In joint capital of Hyderabad, don't we have a right to live with dignity? They are humiliating a chief minister. That means they are insulting the people who elected me. I warn you not to cause tensions between the people of the two states," Mr Naidu said.
Addressing a public meeting in Nalgonda less than an hour after Mr Naidu's meeting in Guntur, KCR hit back.
"Naidu did all that he did and claims we 'trapped' him. He doesn't want us to catch the thieves. He was exposed on TV, all of you saw what he was upto," KCR said.
On Mr Naidu's remark that Hyderabad is a joint capital, he retorted that Hyderabad was not Mr Naidu's ancestral property. "You are not the chief minister here. A son of Telangana is the CM here. Your ACB and police can't operate here. This is the jurisdiction of Telangana."
"Even Lord Brahma can't save you, I warn you, Mr Naidu," KCR said in what was an open threat. "You can't do your stuff on this soil of Telangana, I warn you."
On Sunday night, T News, a channel owned by KCR's family, had aired an audio recording allegedly of a conversation between Chandrababu Naidu and nominated legislator Elvis Stephenson, that suggested that the alleged bribe to the legislator had the backing of Mr Naidu. Leaders of Mr Naidu's Telugu Desam Party filed multiple First Information Reports or FIRs in Andhra Pradesh against KCR alleging that the TRS government had been tapping phones of Mr Naidu and other TDP leaders to defame them.
Earlier, KT Rama Rao, TRS minister and son of KCR did not answer how T News got hold of the audio recording. "That is not important. Let Naidu take lie-detector test and prove to people that he is the squeaky clean person that he claims to be, that he is innocent."
The big question now is whether the ACB that registered the case against TDP legislator Revanth Reddy will issue notice to Chandrababu Naidu and call him in for questioning.
TDP leader in Telangana R Chandrasekhar says the audio tape is concocted. "We are denying that. But even assuming it to be true, nowhere money is mentioned, nowhere names are mentioned, nowhere election process is mentioned. It is the handiwork of the TRS party."
The Congress has said Mr Naidu must quit if the tapes are proved to be genuine whereas the BJP has been wary of taking a stand.
Mr Naidu and the TDP have so far fully backed Revanth Reddy, who is in the dock. But what will their legal and political strategy be for damage control is not yet clear.