Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Tuesday made a scathing attack against YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy saying no tax evader and economic offender in the world took out a padayatra . The credit went to Mr. Jagan whose name figured in the “Paradise Papers”, he said.
In a press statement, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said the Opposition leader was more interested and concerned about his offshore businesses rather than the State and national interests. The Paradise Papers again revealed his economic offences. “Leave alone special category status to Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Jagan secured a special place among 714 Indian economic offenders,” he derided. Only Telugus knew about his economic offences all these days. But the entire world came to know about his history with the release of these papers. Nowhere in the history did the leaders who set on padyatra take breaks to attend court cases. Mr. Jagan feels that politics is a game. He made his padayatra a shield against economic offences and get approval for tax evasions. He must clear air in this regard, he said. Energy Minister and TDP State president Kimidi Kala Venkat Rao told reporters at the Secretariat that Mr. Jagan was under the impression that he would become Chief Minister with his padayatra. If it were to happen, every Tom, Dick and Harry would launch similar ones. The YSR Congress president in June last announced that his MPs would resign if special category status was not accorded to AP. Thereafter, he remained silent. When would his MPs tender their resignations? he asked.
By boycotting the Assembly, Mr. Jagan and his party MLAs were foregoing an opportunity to raise issues concerning the public. The Assembly session would go on even if there was no Opposition. The MLAs should make Assembly a forum to highlight the problems in their constituencies, he said.
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Earlier, he handed over a cheque of ₹61.43lakh to the Red Cross Society. The donation was made by AP Genco and AP Transco as part of their corporate social responsibility.