Why Chennamaneni Ramesh, a 4-time Telangana MLA, has been stripped of Indian citizenship

This is the third time MHA has passed an order cancelling the citizenship of Chennamaneni Ramesh, the TRS MLA from Vemulawada.

File image of Chennamaneni Ramesh | Facebook: Chennamaneni Ramesh Babu Youvasena

Hyderabad: For the third time in just over two years, the Ministry of Home Affairs has dismissed the citizenship claim of Chennamaneni Ramesh, a four-time MLA in Andhra Pradesh and now Telangana.

In its latest order issued Wednesday, a copy of which has been accessed by ThePrint, the MHA said Ramesh had obtained Indian citizenship “by playing fraud upon the government” and concealing the fact that he was not in continuous residence in India for one year before submitting his application in March 2008.

Ramesh currently represents the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi in the state assembly. He was first elected on a TDP ticket from the Vemulawada constituency in undivided Andhra in 2009, but joined the TRS and was re-elected in a 2010 bypoll, and then to the Telangana assembly in 2014 and 2018.

Who is Chennamaneni Ramesh?

Ramesh was born in 1956 to a family of freedom fighters and politicians in Karimnagar. His father was the veteran Communist leader, Ch. Rajeswara Rao. He is related to BJP leader and former Maharashtra governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao.

Ramesh moved to Germany for his higher education, and completed his Ph.D. in 1987 from Humboldt University, settling in that country and obtaining citizenship in 1993.

His election affidavit from 2018 states his profession as social work, and shows he draws an income of Rs 2.5 lakh per annum from farm lands, as well as Rs 12 lakh per annum from a firm called TFSS. His properties include a house in Berlin, while his wife is employed in Germany, with her income listed as Rs 50 lakh per annum.

With the intention of contesting elections, Ramesh reapplied for Indian citizenship in March 2008. But once he had won the election, his opponent Adi Srinivas filed a complaint with the MHA that Ramesh had visited Germany during the one year of continuous stay that’s mandatory to obtain Indian citizenship. Srinivas had also approached the Hyderabad High Court.

“His Indian citizen application is based on fake documents. Out of 365 days required, Ramesh was present in India for only 96 days,” Srinivas, who has contested against Ramesh in every subsequent election and lost, told ThePrint.

Legal wrangles

In August 2013, the Hyderabad High Court had annulled Ramesh’s election to the assembly, reportedly on the same grounds. Ramesh approached the Supreme Court, which stayed the HC order of his disqualification, but stated that he cannot vote in the assembly.

Ramesh’s citizenship was first revoked in August 2017, and his review petition was also dismissed by the MHA in December 2017.

“The applicant’s plea that he is a champion of public good was also considered u/s 10(3) of the Citizenship Act and it was felt that as a public representative, his responsibility towards the society and the nation was even more and that he should have shown impeccable integrity to set an example for others,” the MHA stated.

Ramesh challenged both MHA orders in the Hyderabad High Court, which, in July 2019, referred the case back to the MHA for reconsideration.

The MHA notified its decision Wednesday, saying that Ramesh’s “misrepresentation/concealment of fact misled the GoI in making its decision initially.”

The ministry stated that if he had revealed the fact that he had not resided in India for one year before making the application, he would not have been granted citizenship in the first place.

“As a member of the esteemed legislative assembly, he is part of the august body which takes decisions affecting fate of millions of citizens. If deprivation in this case is not held on the grounds that he is not involved in terrorism, espionage, serious organised crime or war crime, it would become a precedent and many more such persons may obtain Indian citizenship by concealing the material facts and by misleading the government of India,” the ministry stated, adding that it is “not conducive to public good” that Ramesh continues to be a citizen of India.

Filing fresh appeal

Ramesh did not accept this writer’s calls, but replied to a message saying he is “filing a fresh appeal for stay” of the MHA order.

Srinivas, on the other hand, seems exultant. Asked if he would approach the Election Commission, he said: “Not as of now since Ramesh is approaching the courts again. But the rules and facts are against him. He might have defeated me in elections but this is my victory.”