In a landmark judgment on December 9, the Telangana High Court stripped former Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh of his Indian citizenship, declaring him a German citizen. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh for concealing information regarding his German citizenship and misleading the judiciary, marking the first instance in Indian history where a former legislator has lost Indian citizenship.

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, delivering the judgment, emphasised that Chennamaneni's actions since 2009 had deprived genuine Indian citizens of their right to contest elections. The court upheld the Ministry of Home Affairs’ prior decision to cancel Chennamaneni's Indian citizenship on the grounds of his German citizenship.

The case stems from a writ petition filed by Chennamaneni in the Telangana High Court challenging the Central Government's 2019 order revoking his citizenship. However, the court found that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ decision was lawful and justified.

The Rs 30 lakh fine includes Rs 25 lakh to be paid to Aadi Srinivas, the current MLA from Vemulawada, who had persistently pursued a legal battle against Chennamaneni over his citizenship. The remaining Rs 5 lakh is to be paid to the Telangana State Legal Services Authority, as directed by the court.

Significantly, the court noted that Chennamaneni failed to produce any evidence from German authorities confirming that he was not a German citizen, despite his claims to the contrary in court. This judgment underscores the importance of transparency and integrity among public representatives and serves as a precedent in citizenship-related legal matters.

The court noted that Chennamaneni Ramesh had made multiple trips to Germany while serving as the MLA for Vemulawada, despite being a German citizen. This raised serious concerns about his eligibility to hold public office in India. The judgment, which further elaborates on these findings, is yet to be published on the Telangana High Court’s official website.

Congress leader Aadi Srinivas, represented by Advocate V. Rohith, argued that Chennamaneni had naturalized as a German citizen in the 1990s after settling there. According to Rohith, Chennamaneni worked, married and raised his family in Germany before entering Indian politics in 2009. Since then, he has been elected as the MLA from Vemulawada four times, despite his dual citizenship status.

This aspect of the case further underscored the significance of the judgment, highlighting how Chennamaneni's actions potentially undermined electoral integrity and the rights of Indian citizens.

Notably, Srinivas has consistently claimed that Ramesh was a German citizen and accused him of concealing this information to contest elections in the state. In a post on social media platform X, Aadi Srinivas wrote, “The High Court dealt a blow to former BRS MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh, who was found to have been elected as an MLA using false documents while holding German citizenship. The court imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Ramesh, directing him to pay Rs 25 lakh to petitioner Adi Srinivas and Rs 5 lakh to the Legal Services Authority.”

The inquiry conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs revealed that Chennamaneni Ramesh retained his German passport and citizenship even after acquiring Indian citizenship in 2008. The central government informed the Telangana High Court in 2020 that his German passport remained valid until 2023 and that steps to revoke his Indian citizenship were already underway.

Chennamaneni’s political lineage traces back to his father, Ch. Rajeshwara Rao, a prominent figure who served as the CPI floor leader in undivided Andhra Pradesh before joining the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Chennamaneni himself began his political career with the TDP and was first elected as an MLA in 2009 on the party’s ticket. However, in 2010, he joined the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), then known as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), and secured victory in the by-elections. He subsequently won MLA seats on a BRS ticket in the 2014 and 2019 Assembly elections.

Aadi Srinivas, who contested against Chennamaneni in 2009, lost by a narrow margin of 1.5%. Srinivas later contested against him as a BJP candidate in subsequent elections but faced defeat in both 2014 and 2018. In 2023, however, Srinivas emerged victorious, defeating the BRS nominee Chalimeda Laxmi Narasimha Rao. By then, Chennamaneni’s citizenship issue had become a pivotal topic in Telangana's political discourse, leading to his denial of a ticket by the BRS. Despite this, Chennamaneni continued to hold influential positions within the party, keeping his political relevance intact.

This sequence of events underscores the prolonged controversy surrounding Chennamaneni’s citizenship and its impact on Telangana’s political landscape.