Chennamaneni not Indian, rules MHA

New Delhi: The Union government has rejected the plea of Vemulavada MLA Ramesh Chennamaneni to be considered as Indian citizen. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its 13-page order said that under section 10 of the Citizenship Act of 1955, the TRS MLA ceases to be a citizen of India. This could result in Ramesh losing his membership from the state Assembly.

The MHA in its order stated that Ramesh had obtained the certificate of Indian citizenship by concealing crucial material facts of his visits abroad during the last twelve months immediately after his application for the Indian citizenship. It may be mentioned here that Ramesh has been fighting legal battle in the courts and also with the Centre on his Indian citizenship after he was declared as German citizen.

After relinquishing his teaching post in a German university, he joined active politics and won from Vemulwada for four times. Ramesh was elected MLA for the first time from TDP in 2009. He shifted to TRS in 2010 and participated actively in the Telangana struggle.

The MHA found in the inquiry that the TRS legislator had visited abroad from March 1, 2017 to November 26, 2017 and from December 20 to December 28 in the same year. The same was also confirmed by the Telangana government in a communication. The committee of inquiry concluded that Ramesh did not make honest disclosure about his visit to Germany.

On the other hand, the TRS MLA chose to make false representation in his communication. The ministry concluded that Ramesh obtained the certificate of citizenship by playing fraud upon the Union government. However, Ramesh said that he would challenge the order in the court of law after going through the order.