Telangana MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh Not Indian Citizen, Says Home Ministry

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued orders on Sept. 5 to cancel the Indian citizenship of Telangana politician Chennamaneni Ramesh on the grounds  that he  had not fulfilled the required criteria while obtaining it in 2009. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislator, who has been facing allegations of being a German citizen, said he plans to seek a review of the decision.

“I had forfeited my German citizenship while obtaining the Indian citizenship, as there is no dual citizenship system either in Germany or in India,” Ramesh, who is an MLA from Vemulawada constituency in Rajanna Siricilla district, told the Hindustan Times. “If my Indian citizenship is cancelled, where shall I go?”

The order, issued by a joint secretary of the ministry, may be reviewed within 30 days. The home ministry’s decision came following the Supreme Court’s direction last week to inquire into and determine the dual citizenship issue of Ramesh within six weeks. The apex court was hearing a petition filed by Adi Srinivas, who contested election against Ramesh as the Congress candidate. Srinivas, the former chairman of Rajarajeswara Swamy Devasthanam, Vemulawada, had filed the petition against Ramesh in 2010.

Ramesh is the nephew of Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao, and son of veteran politician Rajeshwar Rao, who was a five-time MLA. Ramesh was born in India, and renounced his Indian citizenship after moving to Germany in 1993. He later moved back to India to contest elections, and re-applied for Indian citizenship on March 31, 2008.

Government guidelines require that the candidate should stay in India for at least 365 days before the application for citizenship is filed. Ramesh claims that he had lived in India for one year before he filed the application for citizenship, and got Indian citizenship on February 23, 2009. Srinivas, however, claims that Ramesh was in India only for 96 days before submitting his application in 2008, and that he had submitted fake documents to show his stay in India for one continuous year.

Following Srinivas’ petition, the Hyderabad High Court had in 2013 set aside the election of Ramesh as MLA, ruling that he was not a citizen of India on the day the polling took place. The Supreme Court was hearing Ramesh’s appeal against the high court order. If the home ministry sets aside his appeal, Ramesh would be disqualified as a member of the legislative assembly.

Chief electoral officer Bhanwarlal told the Times of India: “We have conducted the election in 2014 based on the citizenship of Ramesh at that time. If the Centre cancels that, then the Supreme Court has the power to decide the fate of the legislator.”