Hyderabad, June 23 Former Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar's alleged secret meeting with two BJP leaders at a star hotel in Hyderabad has sparked a row with the ruling YSRCP alleging that this exposed his political and caste connections.
The CCTV footage of June 13 showing Kumar, Kamineni Srinivas and Y.S. Chowdary entering a hotel room surfaced on Tuesday.
As the state government's plea challenging the reinstatement of Kumar as the State Election Commissioner (SEC) is pending in the Supreme Court, the visuals of the meeting triggered a political storm.
Last month, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had reinstated Kumar as SEC, a month after he was sacked by the YSRCP government for postponing the local body elections allegedly at the instance of opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The ruling party leaders said since both Kamineni Srinivas and Chowdary are close to TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, the meeting proved their allegation that he is in collusion with the main opposition party.
YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy tweeted that there was a fourth man too at the hotel and said he would soon reveal the details.
YSRCP leader Ambati Rambabu alleged that the secret meeting was held to hatch a conspiracy against the government and claimed that Chandrababu Naidu is the 'mastermind' of this meeting. He also said that Kamineni and Chowdary were working for TDP while being in BJP.
TDP politburo member Varla Ramaiah, however, said there was nothing wrong in Kumar meeting the BJP leaders.
It was on March 15 that Kumar had postponed the urban and rural local body polls in the state, evoking strong reaction from Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who not only rushed to Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan on the same day to complain against the SEC but addressed a press conference to slam him for acting at the instance of the TDP.
The state government brought an Ordinance on April 10, reducing the tenure of SEC to five years and the same da,y issued orders replacing Kumar with retired high court judge justice Kanagaraju as the SEC.
Kamineni Srinivas was one of the people who challenged the ordinance. The high court on May 29 struck down the ordinance, reinstating Kumar as SEC.
The state government challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court, which on June 10, refused to grant a stay.
Kumar claimed to have taken charge again as SEC after the high court order but backed off after the state Advocate General found fault with his move, saying he misinterpreted the court order.
( With inputs from IANS )