Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has decided not to appear before the Dharmabad court in Maharashtra on Friday, but to file a recall petition against the non-bailable warrant issued against him and 15 others earlier this month by the court.

The NBW, which kicked up a huge political controversy both in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, was issued earlier this month by the Maharashtra court in connection with a 2010 case. Chandrababu Naidu, then the leader of the opposition in the united state of AP, along with 40 TDP leaders left for Maharashtra and staged a protest demonstration against the construction of the Babli dam on the Godavari in that state. Subsequently, a case was filed against him and the other leaders by the Congress Government and eight years later the NBW was issued all of a sudden, triggering speculation that it was a politically motivated move, as the TDP had broken with the BJP. The Chief Minister and several TDP leaders squarely blamed the BJP for the issue of the NBW.

However, BJP national president Amit Shaw rebutted the allegation, stating that the BJP had got nothing to do with it. The case was filed when the Congress was in power in Maharashtra in 2010 and subsequently law had taken it course, as Chandrababu Naidu had not responded to the summonses issued by the court. He accused the Chief Minister and the TDP of politicising the issue.

However, the Chief Minister made it clear that he had not received even a single summons in the case. After consulting with legal experts, he decided not to appear in person before the Dharmabad court but to file a petition to recall the NBW through his lawyer on Friday, when the next hearing comes up.