After YSRCP Lok Sabha member Nandigam Suresh and party leader and former MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan, the ruling party’s chief whip Gadikota Srikanth Reddy made scandalous comments against the Andhra Pradesh High Court judges over the reinstatement of Ramesh Kumar as State Election Commissioner.
The Andhra Pradesh government chief whip attributed motives to the court stating that former chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu had been managing the High Court.
“Who is paying crores of rupees by the hour to the judges? Is it not Chandrababu Naidu. Is it not true that the TDP had been funding Ramesh Kumar with crores of rupees to pay off judges,” he asked. The comments of the chief whip come in the wake of the HC order reinstating Ramesh Kumar as the SEC. The HC directed Ramesh Kumar to submit a memorandum to Governor Bishwabhushan Harichandan stating that the Governor has powers to reinstate him. Following which, Ramesh Kumar met the Governor and submitted a memorandum appealing to him to direct the government to reinstate him.
Obviously, miffed at the reinstatement of Ramesh Kumar, Srikanth Reddy made remarks that are contemptuous in nature. He alleged that Ramesh Kumar was bribing the judges to get the verdicts in his favour. The money was being sponsored by the TDP and its president Chandrababu Naidu.
This is not the first that the YSRCP leaders made comments that tend to undermine people’s confidence in administration of justice, bring or tend to bring the court and judges into disrepute and disrespect.
On May 20, the High Court had initiated contempt proceedings against 49 individuals, including YSR Congress Lok Sabha member Nandigam Suresh and party leader Amanchi Krishna Mohan for attributing motives to judges and lowering the dignity of the High Court. Both the YSRCP leaders made serious allegations against sitting judges of the High Court which amounts to interference with administration of justice.
At a press briefing, the Bapatla MP attributed motives to the court stating that Chandrababu Naidu was managing courts. “Chandrababu Naidu seems to know the High Court verdict 10 minutes in advance. Chandrababu’s call list should be examined to verify if he is involved in the judgement process.”
YSRCP leader and former Chirala MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan found fault with the High Court directive to the CBI to probe the police highhandedness against Dr Sudhakar Rao. “It’s a petty case. For every petty case, a CBI investigation should not be ordered. The High Court ordering a CBI probe has surprised everyone in the state,” he said. He didn’t stop there. Fuming at the HC directive, the YSRCP leader further said people will lose faith in the courts with such directives. The YSRCP leader had remarked that he would have launched an agitation against the court directive but for the lockdown. “If every petty is handed over to the CBI, then the central government should set up a CBI office attached to all the police stations in the state,” he had stated.
