Listen: Chandrababu Naidu's alleged telephone conversation that could throw Telangana in constitutional crisis

A cash-for-votes scam in Telangana has taken a dramatic turn with the emergence of a tape of a phone conversation in which Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is purportedly heard asking a legislator to back a TDP candidate in an election. The Andhra Pradesh government has denied that it is Naidu's voice on the audio tape that was first played on Sunday on T News, a Telugu news channel owned by Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party, and later picked up by other channels. The tape features a purported phone conversation between Naidu and nominated Telangana legislator C, and suggests that the chief minister gave an "assurance of all sorts" to the MLA if he votes for a Telugu Desam Party (TDP) nominee in the Telangana legislative council election. During the conversation, Naidu purportedly said, "Our people briefed me. I am with you, don't bother. For everything I am with you. What all they spoke, we will honour." TDP legislator Revanth Reddy was arrested on May 31 for allegedly trying to bribe Stephenson to vote for a TDP nominee in the legislative council election. Telangana's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is in the process of questioning Reddy and two others who have been arrested in the cash-for-votes case. Based on a complaint by Stephenson, ACB officials held Reddy, Sebastian Harry and Uday Simha after they were caught allegedly handing over Rs 50 lakh to Stephenson. The new controversy may create a constitutional crisis as Telangana's ACB is planning to summon Naidu for questioning.