Even as Andhra Pradesh continues to see a surge of corona crisis with the state registering more than 500 cases, the YSRCP leaders seem to be more bothered about elections to civic bodies and rather busier on how to further nail the former State Election Commissioner after first sacking him from his office.
On Wednesday, senior YSRCP leader and Rajya Sabja member Vijayasai Reddy shot off a letter to DGP Gautam Sawang asking the police officials to seriously look into who had sent the letter to the Union home secretary purportedly written by Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar. In the letter to DGP, Vijayasai Reddy alleged that the letter was not written by Ramesh Kumar and “in fact it was a fake and forged one”.
Vijayasai Reddy said the tone and tenor of the letter indicates it might not have been written by Ramesh Kumar asked the DGP to trace the IP address to find out from which system the letter purportedly written by Ramesh Kumar was sent the Union home secretary. “It is fake and a forged letter,” YSRCP Rajya Sabha member wrote to the DGP.
As a matter of fact, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kishan Reddy confirmed that the Union Home Ministry did receive a letter from Ramesh Kumar seeking protection from central forces for him and his family members as he feared physical attacks from the YSRCP leaders. In the letter, Ramesh Kumar made serious allegations against the YSRCP government and the Andhra Pradesh police.
Ramesh Kumar had written the letter after deferring the elections citing corona virus threat. At that time, not a single corona case was reported. The deferment of polls was challenged by the YSRCP in Supreme Court which upheld the SEC’s decision. The Opposition parties hailed the SEC decision saying the move has averted a big danger to the state in light of corona virus. In the meanwhile, the state government hurriedly moved an Ordinance to remove Ramesh Kumar by amending the AP Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, and cut short the tenure of SEC to three years from five years. The Opposition leaders termed the state government’s decision to remove Ramesh Kumar as undemocratic and said had it not been for him the situation in Andhra Pradesh could have been worse. Andhra Pradesh reported more than 500 cases thereafter with at least 11 deaths.