Amid the political row with the Telangana government, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday adopted two resolutions urging the Centre to order an inquiry into the alleged tapping of phones of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and others by the Telangana government and also to frame rules and guidelines under Section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act vesting powers with Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan for maintenance of law and order in Hyderabad city.
Briefing reporters later, Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said the phone tapping issue was discussed in detail and the government took a serious view of it. He said the Andhra Pradesh government has information that the phones of 120 individuals, including the Chief Minister, ministers, MLAs, MPs and officials were tapped.
He said phone tapping was tantamount to committing a big crime under the Constitution and governments had to resign on the issue in the past. Accusing, Telangana government of indulging in character assassination of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, he said tapping was violation of personal liberty guaranteed by the Constitution and the State was examining if any cases could be filed in this regard against the Telangana government.
He said Mr. Naidu, who left for Delhi this evening, would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday to brief them on the issues. He would also meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday.
Mr. Ramakrishnudu said another resolution was passed urging the Centre to immediately frame the rules and guidelines under Section 8 of the AP Reorganisation Act to empower the Governor to protect law and order, individual liberty and properties of the citizens.
He said Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary and DGP would be meeting Cabinet Secretary and Union Home Secretary and submit the resolutions on Wednesday.
