A few months before the April 11 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, the then Telugu Desam Party government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu barred the entry of Central Bureau of Investigation into the state to take up any investigation.
The Naidu government issued an order (GO Ms No. 176) on November 8, 2018, withdrawing general consent to the CBI in the State.
Apparently, Naidu feared that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre might order a CBI investigation into the acts of omission and commission during his regime, as it was doing against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s political opponents in other states.
The TDP faced a humiliating defeat in the assembly elections in the hands of YSR Congress party headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
And within a week of assuming charge as the chief minister, Jagan issued a fresh government order (GO MS No. 81 dated June 6, 2019), restoring the general consent to the CBI to take up investigations in the state.
The urgency with which Jagan revoked the earlier GO and restored the general consent to the CBI gave an impression that he would unleash the CBI to investigate into the corruption and other irregularities by the previous Naidu government immediately.
But nothing has happened in the last three months. The CBI did not take up a single case in Andhra Pradesh. And finally, it could find one case – that of illegal mining of limestone allegedly indulged in by former TDP MLA Yarapathineni Srinivasa Rao from Gurajala.
The Jagan government decided to call for a CBI inquiry into Yarapathineni’s alleged illegal deals, that too, after the state high court gave its approval.
On August 26, the high court asked the state government whether it is interested in referring the case to the CBI or not.
Now, the state government referred the case to the Centre, requesting that the CBI be allowed to probe the case.
The State government-owned CID has already conducted an initial enquiry into the charges against Yarapathineni. The report is now available with the State government.
If the Central government gives its nod, the CBI would be entering the State for the first time after a gap of 11 months.
