Irked by the opposition’s allegations, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah issued a poser of his own; he said he would resign if the TDP wins even one more seat than the Congress in Monday’s elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
Mr. Rosaiah said he would walk out after sending in his resignation letters to the Governor and Congress high command the minute election results showed the Congress trailing behind TDP in the final tally. Asking TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu to take time to react to his challenge, he left it to the latter on what he proposed to do if the Congress won more seats than the TDP.
‘Prepared for dialogue’
Asserting that he was prepared for a dialogue with Mr. Naidu anytime over corruption charges, he asked the TDP leader to submit himself to an inquiry into at least one allegation against him during his nine-year rule. Among the numerous allegations against Mr. Naidu, the one that stood out was the Yeleru land scandal, he said and dared him to move the court to lift the stay on disclosing the report of the Somasekhara Commission that went into the scandal.
Mr.Rosaiah, who was addressing a press conference in response to Mr. Naidu’s demand to step down in light of recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court over illegal mining, Mr. Rosaiah justified his stand to wait until the Supreme Court gave a judgement. He would abide by whatever the court decided, including initiating action against those who gave the mining licences.
Quoting a delegation of the TDP that met him recently, Mr. Rosaiah said the party had admitted it transferred a licence in favour of OMC owned by Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy when it was in power.
Strong objection
He took strong objection to Mr. Naidu’s statement that the Congress government was on Mr. Janardhan Reddy’s payrolls. He said Mr. Naidu appeared to have lost his balance and was speaking with vengeance as pre-election trends showed that the TDP was way behind the Congress in the GHMC polls.
“If I was on the payrolls of Mr. Janardhan Reddy, I would not have ordered an inquiry against him,” Mr. Rosaiah said.
