Hyderabad: Former Vemulawada MLA and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Chennamaneni Ramesh was fined by the Telangana High Court on Sunday, December 9, for Rs 30 lakh for hiding the facts and details about his German citizenship from the court.
The court said that the four-time MLA is not an Indian citizen, and failed to submit any document to prove that he is not a German citizen.
The former Vemulawada MLA of the undivided Karimnagar district was directed to pay Rs 25 lakh as compensation, to the current Vemulawada MLA, Congress leader Adi Srinivas, who challenged Ramesh’s citizenship. Additionally, he was ordered to pay Rs 5 lakh to Telangana State Legal Services Authority.
The court noted that Ramesh had travelled to Germany multiple times and held a German passport during his tenure as an MLA.
Chennamaneni Ramesh, son of Ch Rajeshwara Rao, the CPI’s late floor leader of the undivided Andhra Pradesh state Assembly, had moved to Germany in the 1990s and obtained German citizenship in 1993. He later came back to India and re-applied for Indian citizenship, which was granted by the ministry of Home affairs.
Ramesh initially contested and won as the Vemulawada MLA on a TDP ticket and later secured his seat in a by-poll in 2010, on a Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) ticket, now BRS.
Adi Srinivas, who has been contesting in the constituency elections against Ramesh has been raising questions and fighting legal battles questioning the former BRS MLA’s citizenship and his candidature, since 2009.
Adi Srinivas has been contesting Ramesh as a Congress and BJP candidate, in several elections, but always fell short. In the 2023 elections, the BRS party fielded another candidate for the Vemulawada constituency, who yet again defeated by Adi Srinivas, to represent the constituency in the state Assembly.
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