Vijayawada:  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and 15 other ministers, on Saturday chose to file a recall petition and not appear before the Dharmabad court. This decision has been taken after considering whether to appear or not before the court in Nanded district of Maharashtra, which had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant (NBWs) against the TDP leader.


The NBWs were issued against Naidu and others for allegedly opposing prohibitory orders and leading a protest against the building of the Babli irrigation project in July 2010 when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was in Opposition. 

Earlier, the court ordered Naidu and others including two of his Cabinet colleagues Nakka Anand Babu and Devineni Umamaheswara Rao to appear before the court on or before September 21. 


TDP leaders headed by Naidu, moved over from Telangana to Maharashtra to protest at Babli barrage on July 18, 2010. The leaders, who were in the opposition in united Andhra at the time, were protesting against the dam, which was across the Godavari as the water flow to downstream areas in Telangana would be hit severely.

Chief minister’s counsel appeared before the court on that day asking for an adjournment of the case because his client has not got any notices about the situation. 

The court adjourned the hearing and directed Naidu and all other accused leaders to arrive before it on or before October 15. Naidu on Saturday had a meeting with senior ministers, Advocate General and legal experts and sought their opinion on the planned course of action.  

Though some of the leaders proposed that it will be better to visit the court, a majority of them stated that there is no need as it was not an important case asking the presence of the chief minister. 

The three former MLAs from Telangana including Gangula Kamalakar, KS Ratnam and Prakash Goud, who were with the TDP in 2010, had joined the protest along with Naidu, and had already appeared before court and paid their fine of Rs 5,000 while getting bail.