The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly witnessed yet another episode of mutual recrimination between the treasury and Opposition benches on Thursday as YSR Congress president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy accused Agriculture Minister Prathipati Pulla Rao of buying land allegedly sold by one of the promoters of AgriGold Group of companies which committed a major fraud on the customers.
During the discussion on Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s statement on the status of cases on the group, Mr. Jagan made the allegation against Mr. Pulla Rao, who challenged the Leader of the Opposition to prove his charges. He said he was prepared for an inquiry by a House Committee or even a judicial probe as the YSRC MLAs had demanded.
Mr. Pulla Rao said the land purchased by him was in no way connected with the AgriGold Group and he was ready to prove his claims and sought to know whether his challenge was acceptable to Mr. Jagan.
Mr. Naidu said he was prepared to order a judicial inquiry. He stated as the leader of the House that Mr. Pulla Rao would not be allowed to enter the Assembly again if Mr. Jagan proved his allegations and asked whether he was prepared for the same treatment if his charges turned out to be a malicious propaganda.
Poser to Naidu
Mr. Jagan said it was up to the Chief Minister to take whatever action he deemed fit and questioned why the assets of the AgriGold Group like the Haailand and the land at Yarada in Visakhapatnam district had so far not come up for auction.
He, however, did not make it clear whether he wanted the matter to be investigated by a House panel or a judicial committee.
Walkout staged
When he pointed out that the persons from whom Mr. Pulla Rao purchased the land happened to be the directors of Haailand, the TDP MLAs rose to their feet shouting slogans on the slew of corruption charges faced by Mr. Jagan.
On the Chief Minister’s statement that the government had little role in the cases as they were being investigated by the CB-CID under the supervision of the High Court, Mr. Jagan alleged that the inquiry was confined to only three AgriGold companies when there were scores of fictitious companies which cheated lakhs of investors across the country.
Mr. Jagan and his party MLAs staged a walkout a short while later in protest against the denial of opportunity to speak on the actual topic of the sufferings of the AgriGold victims. The subject is to be taken up afresh on Friday as the Speaker kept the decision pending.
