The Telangana High Court today heard a case regarding the citizenship of Vemulawada MLA Ramesh Chennamaneni who has been embroiled in a legal battle over the issue since 2013.
At the hearing, the Assistant Solicitor General (ASG), representing the Centre, presented a memo along with the relevant documents to the court, and informed the bench that Ramesh was currently a German citizen, and that his passport was due for renewal in 2023.
Following this, the court directed the ASG to file an affidavit in this regard.
The MLA was also asked to file an affidavit disclosing the details related to the surrendering of his German passport along with the relevant proof.
The hearing was then adjourned till January 20.
The issue had first come to the fore in 2013 when a political rival had approached the Hyderabad High Court claiming that Chennamaneni held a German passport. The court had then annulled his election to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.
The MLA had approached the Supreme Court regarding the matter and obtained a stay on the High Court order.
He then went on to win two more elections in 2014 and 2018. But the issue came up again last year when the union Home Ministry issued an order cancelling his Indian citizenship, claiming that he had concealed the details of his German citizenship while applying for citizenship in India.
Chennamaneni had then filed a petition seeking to overturn the ministry's decision.
Following the petition, the court had directed the Centre to provide proof of Ramesh's German citizenship after consulting the Indian Embassy in Germany, on November 18.
filed in:Courts, High Court, Telangana High Court, Legal, Chennamaneni Ramesh