The ongoing ‘data war’ between the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the main opposition party YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh has touched the peak with raid on IT Grids, an IT company in Hyderabad, which provides services to the ruling TDP as well as the AP government.

The Telangana police raided the company and seized floppies and other material last weekend on the basis of a complaint lodged by an apparent whistle-blower having close connections with YSR Congress leaders. The charge was that private data belonging to the citizens of AP (Aadhar data, bank account details among others) was being misused by the company to serve the needs of the ruling TDP through the ‘Seva Mitra’ app launched by the party.

Denying the allegations, TDP leaders said the YSR Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), supported by the BJP, have hatched a conspiracy to obtain data relating to the cadre and leaders of the TDP and leverage it for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls by staging a raid..

The drama has unfolded in Hyderabad, technically still the common capital of both the Telugu States, according to the AP Re-organisation Act, 2014, and what makes it interesting is the role being played by the ruling TRS. The TRS is an open friend of the YSR Congress and an avowed foe of the TDP, going by the recent statements of its leaders and political developments.

KCR’s return gift

The raid on the IT firm in Hyderabad, alleges the TDP, is the promised “return gift” of KCR [to the YSR Congress]. But “it will only boomerang on the YSR Congress and TRS, if they adopt such vindictive tactics,” it adds. KCR had promised a return gift to the Andhra CM for campaigning against the TRS in Telangana during the Assembly polls last year.

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the leader of the YSR Congress, met the common Governor of both the States in Hyderabad, ESL Narasimhan, and submitted a complaint against the ruling TDP over how “it had compromised the private data of citizens to achieve its political ends”. The votes of the YSR Congress cadre and sympathisers are being deleted from the voters’ lists on a large-scale and bogus voters are being included in the lists to suit the TDP, he alleged.

The Telangana police issued a look-out notice against the CEO of the IT firm, and are going ahead with the investigation.

The TDP on Wednesday night lodged a complaint with the Guntur rural police against the Telangana police”.

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