KTR dares Naidu to come clean in data theft case

TRS working president KT Rama Rao on Monday dared Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh to face inquiry and come clean if they have not done anything wrong in the alleged data theft case.

He said Naidu was back to his silly politics over the arrest of four employees of an IT firm over stealing confidential personal information of people of Andhra Pradesh.

“Why should TDP leaders fear for a case against a private company? Let them face the inquiry and come clean. If you have not done anything wrong, stand up for scrutiny or a probe,” he said. He opined that the TDP leaders including Naidu must be ashamed of themselves for trying to misguide people of Andhra Pradesh to cover up their mistakes.

The alleged data breach by a Telangana-based company, IT Grids which provides IT services to Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), had triggered a storm between the two States with Andhra Pradesh (AP) Chief Minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu as well as AP IT Minister Nara Lokesh terming the action against IT Grids as a conspiracy by the TRS government in Telangana State. The duo alleged that the TRS leadership was sending ‘return gift’ to avenge them for contesting the Assembly polls in Telangana State.

Addressing a press conference here at Telangana Bhavan along with Ministers T Srinivas Yadav and V Srinivas Goud, Rama Rao said Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh were accustomed to shout at the top of their voice and resort to false propaganda to cover up for their crimes rather than coming out clean and issuing clarification over allegations against them. He said that Naidu and Lokesh need not fear for crimes that they have not committed.

The TRS working president alleged that Naidu was trying to provoke people and evoke their emotions to cover up his failures in



development of Andhra Pradesh and tide over the upcoming Assembly elections in the neighbouring State.

“Whenever Chandrababu Naidu is caught red-handed, he would seek stay orders from the court or resort to reverse propaganda. He obtained stay orders in 18 cases. Let him get another stay order in this case. We have seen his modus operandi earlier, but people are not ready to believe him in this new age of social media,” Rama Rao said.

He said that one whistle-blower Lokeshwar Reddy who is a native of Andhra Pradesh, but residing in Hyderabad filed a complaint with the Telangana police alleging data theft by an IT company stealing the personal data of people including Aadhar, colour photographs, phone numbers and names in voters’ list of Andhra Pradesh.

The Telangana police registered a case under Sections 66 and 72 of IT Act and arrested four employees of the company for investigation. He said that as the complainant and also the accused are in Hyderabad, the case falls under jurisdiction of Telangana police without any doubt.

“Chandrababu Naidu and Lokesh are accusing the Telangana government of stealing their government data. Will they explain what is its use for us? How can AP government give all confidential data including voters list and Aadhar data of 3.7 crore population to a private company which developed an app for TDP? Has there been data theft or not? Let the courts decide,” Rama Rao declared.

Citing media reports, the TRS working president alleged that the Andhra Pradesh police raided the residence of Lokeshwar Reddy and has been harassing him for filing the case. He wondered on what basis the AP police violated jurisdiction limits and took up investigation in Hyderabad without prior intimation to the Telangana police as per existing laws.