YSRCP senior leader and its biggest voice against the opponents Ambati Rambabu has landed in a soup once again. A purported audio of a conversation between Ambati Rambabu and a woman identified as Sukanya is doing rounds on the social media. This audio clip is now threatening to hit at his chances of becoming a minister.

The audio has a male voice which asks for ‘favours’ in lieu of money from a woman. The woman is seen offering ‘special favours’ on payment of Rs 25000. The hushed tone of the voice shows that both knew each other. The tone and tenor of the conversation appears to be intimate. The audio has now gone viral on social media. A stung Ambati Rambabu released video clips of himself where he denied that the voice in the audio clip was his. He further said that this was a conspiracy aimed at maligning him. He said he would lodge a complaint with the police over this ‘purported audio leak.’

Interestingly, earlier too, there was a similar allegation against Ambati Rambabu. It was published in a daily newspaper known to be pro-TDP. It was a sting operation and was conducted way back in 2011. Rambabu then filed a complaint and proactively worked to snuff out rumours. He obtained restraining orders from the High Court to bar the airing of the programme. The woman in the video too backtracked and alleged that she was blackmailed to insinuate against Ambati.

But, this time around things appear to be different. The timing of the controversy shows that there is an attempt to prevent him from becoming a minister in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle. It could be part of a plan to keep him out of the list of probables for the ministerial berths.