YSR Congress Party president and Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy dared TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to ensure disqualification of MLAs who defected from the former’s party to the TDP and seek people’s mandate afresh.
The election will be a referendum on the two-year TDP rule, which is marked by corruption and nepotism, and will expose the undemocratic methods being used by the ruling party ever since it assumed power, he said. The government, he alleged, was steeped in charges of corruption and the Chief Minister was utilising the ill-gotten wealth to lure MLAs from other parties, Mr. Jagan told mediapersons after calling on Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan to complain about defections engineered by Mr. Naidu.
“The TDP is luring the MLAs offering Rs. 20 crore to Rs. 30 crore each. A couple of them were even offered Ministerial berths. How can a person elected on YSRC ticket be offered a Cabinet berth by the ruling party?” he asked, alleging that the Chief Minister was making a mockery of democracy by resorting to such acts.
Legal recourse
He said the YSRC had petitioned Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao seeking disqualification of the defected MLAs, though it was not anticipating any action from the later on the issue. “We will take legal recourse on the issue at an appropriate time,” he said.
Mr. Jagan drove to Raj Bhavan on Saturday seeking his intervention in initiating action against the Chief Minister as he was blatantly misusing power and resorting to horse trading. The Governor was also represented about the “serious corruption charges” faced by Mr. Naidu, who was allegedly involved in various scams.
A delegation of the party would visit New Delhi on April 25 to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and submit a representation on the “horse-trading” by the ruling party. “We have sought appointment of senior leaders of other political parties as also Prime Minister Narendra Modi to highlight the issue at the national level,” he said.
He said he had informed the Governor about the issuance of GO 22 which was in favour of select contractors who were offered huge concessions even though the EPC system did not permit escalation of project costs. The Pattiseema project, for instance, was aimed at receiving “kickbacks” of close to Rs. 500 crore, he alleged.
‘Insider trading’
The government indulged in “insider trading” in the capital region issue in that the select coterie of Mr. Naidu was informed about the selected region well in advance enabling them to purchase lands at throwaway prices. The zoning regulations put in place in the capital region were aimed at favouring the select few at the expense of marginal and Dalit farmers whose lands were placed in the agriculture zone.
