TDP accused Telangana government of working with YSRCP to pin down AP government. (File)The raid on a Hyderabad-based IT firm working for Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was conducted by Telangana Government as per the “plan of action” suggested by YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP V Vijay Sai Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Saturday. Releasing documents submitted by Reddy to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on February 22 against TDP’s mobile application “Seva Mitra” in which he suggested a “plan of action” to investigate the IT firm which created the app and manages it, Naidu said that Telangana Government and its police followed Reddy’s 28-point action plan point by point.
“From raiding IT Grids Pvt Ltd by Telangana Police to a seizure of digital data and servers, to disabling the TDP’s mobile app “Seva Mitra”, Telangana followed Vijay Sai Reddy’s script as he had dictated. Reddy submitted the complaint to EC on February 22 and the first raid on the IT firm was conducted by Telangana Police on February 23. The shameless conspiracy of YSRCP and Telangana has been exposed,” Naidu said.
Reddy’s “action plan’’ was revealed even as the controversy created by YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy regarding deletion of voters in Andhra Pradesh blew up in its face with Jagan himself admitting that it was his own party members who filed nearly 7 lakh Form-7 applications seeking deletion of names of voters. Jagan had been accusing the ruling TDP of deleting names of pro-YSRCP voters from the electoral lists and had lodged complaints with ECI and Governor ESL Narasimhan. This accusation turned into an ugly confrontation between AP and Telangana when, for the second time, Telangana Police on March 2 raided Hyderabad-based IT Grids Pvt Ltd, a software firm working for TDP, based on a complaint by a data analyst backed by YSRCP.
Jagan said that the Form-7 request only initiates an inquiry and does not result in deletion of a voter’s name. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)The police complaint lodged by T Lokeshwara Reddy alleged that IT Grids was using a database of beneficiaries of AP Government’s welfare schemes for voter profiling and identifying names of voters to be deleted. The police complaint was lodged after the Election Commission dismissed the complaint lodged by YSRCP MP V Vijay Sai Reddy in this regard. Cyberabad Police whisked away four employees and kept them under detention only to be released after the MD of the IT firm filed a habeas corpus petition in Telangana High Court. The HC censured Cyberabad Police for forcing the four employees to sign on blank papers.
“First of all, the conspiracy of Jagan in orchestrating this has been exposed today. When EC dismissed their false complaints, they took the help of Telangana Government and lodged a police complaint in Hyderabad against a firm which has developed a mobile app for TDP. Secondly, the raids on the IT firm on February 23 by Cyberabad Police without any search warrants and the undue haste shown by cops to take up investigation regarding alleged theft of data belonging to a neighbouring state exposes the nexus between YSRCP and Telangana Government. Jagan has been caught lying; he has admitted that it was his party which sent lakhs of applications to EC officials to delete voters’ names. The TDP or AP Government has nothing to do with it,’’ said N Lokesh, IT Minister of AP.
Jagan defends move
Talking to media, Jagan said that the Form-7 request only initiates an inquiry and does not result in deletion of a voter’s name. “It is not a crime to file Form-7 request. If there is nothing wrong or if it is not a bogus name, then nothing will happen. We filed all these applications as there are lakhs of bogus voters in the electoral lists,’’ Jagan said. YSRCP leaders refused to answer why it had not clarified earlier that they were filing the Form-7s while they accused the AP Government of deleting voters’ names.
TDP accuses Telangana police of stealing database of party leaders
The TDP is now alleging that in the guise of investigating the IT firm for data theft, Telangana Police has stolen the database of TDP leaders, cadre and supporters. “IT Grids has developed and maintains the Sevamitra app of TDP which is used by its leaders and cadre. It has extensive information on TDP cadre and supporters including their photos and contact numbers. We are sure that this data has been stolen after the raids on IT Grids and it was given to YSRCP by Telangana Government. We are sure because immediately after the raids, TDP leaders and workers started receiving calls from YSRCP asking if they would like to join their party. Their names and phone numbers are in the Sevamitra app,” Lokesh said.
Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said that the investigation is still going on to find out if IT Grids stole data from a Visakhapatnam-based IT firm hired by AP Government to help streamline and implement government schemes. Following this, the case has now been transferred to a special investigation team and it appears to be getting cold.
Lokesh, son of CM Chandrababu Naidu and a Central Committee member of TDP, denied that TDP was using the beneficiaries’ database for voter profiling. “When the raids happened, we called the owner and senior employees of the IT firm and questioned them but they denied,’’ Lokesh said, speaking to The Indian Express. “This was all a conspiracy by Jagan and Telangana Government to pin down TDP and AP Government. Now they are completely exposed,’’ he said. The MD of IT Grids D Ashok, however, has evaded police questioning and has not returned to Hyderabad after going to Vijayawada a day after the raids.
