Vemulawada MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh is a German citizen: Home ministry to Telangana HC

HYDERABAD: In an interesting development the

union home ministry

on Thursday informed the

Telangana high court

that

Vemulawada MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh

is still a German citizen. He is not an Indian citizen. Hence, he was also given the status of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), which is meant for foreign citizens and not for Indian citizens.


The ministry's undersecretary Ashutosh Anand filed an affidavit to this effect citing the information he received from the Indian mission in Berlin. Assistant solicitor general Namavarapu Rajeswara Rao filed this affidavit on behalf of the central government before Justice Ahinand Kumar Shavili who was hearing a petition filed by Congress leader Adi Srinivas.

The Congress leader was contending that since Rao is not an Indian citizen, he needs to be disqualified as a legislator. The high court earlier directed the central government to ascertain the latest status of Ramesh in this regard. It was in response to this, the center has now filed an affidavit narrating the information it could collect from the German authorities. The MLA's counsel sought time to file a rejoinder to this and he was given two weeks for the same.

Ashutosh in his affidavit also described the details obtained from the German embassy in New Delhi. The consular, passport, and visa (CPV) division of the ministry of external affairs contacted the German embassy for the purpose and it said that "a person might hold a German passport. But he or she does not have to be a German Citizen. If you want more details about an individual, we are not authorized to give you. You have to follow a legal procedure for obtaining the same".

The German embassy and foreign office cannot share such information, and advised that existing legal assistance procedures may be used in such cases to seek assistance from the German authorities, Ashutosh said citing the memo filed by the CPV division. Citing the information obtained from the immigration, visa, and foreigners' tracking (IVFRT) system, the union home ministry in its affidavit said that Ramesh Chennamaneni continued to be in possession of a German passport and traveled abroad using his German passport even after acquiring

Indian Citizenship

. It can be recalled, the state of Telangana entered into the tussle last month and claimed that in matters relating to the

home department

, the state must have a final say. The case will come up for hearing after two weeks.

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