There was a sudden lull in activity and drop in high-decibel trading of charges in the cash-for-vote scam that has been rocking the political scene in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the past two weeks. The two Chief Ministers shifted their focus to development issues.

While K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) of Telangana reviewed irrigation projects and visited a temple at Vemulawada in Karimnagar district, Andhra Pradesh’s Chandrababu Naidu visited Rajahmundry.

The latter will spend some time in Vijayawada, looking into the building of Amaravathi, the new AP capital.

The only noteworthy development in Hyderabad was the relief given by the High Court to Dalit Christian leader Jerusalem Mathaiah, the fourth accused in the scam, in the form of a stay on his arrest.

The AP government had ordered a CID investigation into cases filed by Mathaiah against KCR in Andhra Pradesh.

On Thursday, KCR’s son KT Rama Rao, Minister for IT and Panchayati Raj of Telangana, met Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari and others, raising speculation that he may have discussed the scam.

Politicising the issue

However, Rama Rao told newspersons that TDP leaders are politicising the issue and trying to whip up sentiments to cover up their involvement in the scam.

Hyderabad citizens are living peacefully, he said, adding that over the past year there has been no incident of people from AP being harassed.

Meanwhile, AP Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao met Union Home Ministry officials to brief them about the steps taken by his government over the past few days.

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