Mr Seshaiah Naidu, a sub-contractor from Rajampet, had registered a case against Telugu Desam Rajya Sabha candidate and C.M. Ramesh, the MD of Rithwik Constructions, in December 2011 for default of payment. The TD leader’s company had obtained a sub-contract from Engineering Projects India Limited for the Handri Neeva Srujala Sravanthi project works and had further sub-contracted the work to Seshaiah Constructions.
According to the complaint, Mr Seshaiah’s company had executed works worth Rs 28 crore of which only Rs 13 crore had been received. Dues of Rs 15 crore were pending of which Rithwik Constructions owed Rs 4.5 crore. When contacted, Mr Ramesh, however, denied any wrongdoing. “I heard about the complaint. There were some differences with the sub-contractor and the matter has been settled long back. He is deliberately indulging in mudslinging after I filed my Rajya Sabha nomination papers,” he said.
“Mere filing of case cannot disqualify my candidature. My company people had dealt with it and the matter was settled. If I had known about the complaint, I would have certainly mentioned it,” Mr Ramesh added. As per ECI guidelines, a candidate has to furnish all information including criminal cases pending against him or her. Suppressing any such information will make the candidate liable for disqualification.