Centre to HC: BRS MLA Ramesh has German passport

Hyderabad: In the citizenship row of former BRS MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh, pending for more than a decade, the Union home ministry on Friday informed the Telangana High Court that he held a valid German passport and had got it renewed till 2033.

Additional solicitor-general B. Narasimha Sarma, representing the Union home ministry, also informed the court that Ramesh had been using the German passport for his foreign visits.

Sharma informed the court that in 2023 alone, Ramesh had visited Germany thrice using his German passport, though he was Vemulawada MLA at that time. Such a practice was against the spirit of the Constitution.

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was dealing with a petition filed in 2010 by Congress leader Adi Srinivas, recently elected Vemulawada MLA, objecting to the Indian citizenship of Ramesh as the BRS leader held a German passport.

Srinivas had also complained that Ramesh had acquired his Indian passport by suppressing facts related to his German citizenship.

Two days ago, Justice Reddy had directed the Centre to furnish the travel log of the BRS leader for the past year. He directed Ramesh to place the records of when he had relinquished his German citizenship, as claimed and surrendered his German passport.

Following this, the Union home ministry furnished the travel record of Ramesh. Y. Rama Rao, counsel for Ramesh, filed a memo stating that the former MLA had relinquished his German citizenship but had held a German passport to facilitate his travel to Germany.

Senior counsel V. Ravi Kiran Rao, appearing for Srinivas, said that a person cannot hold a German passport without being a citizen of that country. He reminded the court about how the former MLA had spoken of being stateless till recently because he had relinquished his German citizenship and the Centre had suspended his Indian citizenship.

All those claims have turned out to be incorrect claims, Ravi Kiran said. The truth is that Ramesh possesses both Indian and German passports and has been travelling with the help of his German passport, he said. The court reserved orders.