Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana asserted on Sunday that corruption was evident from the manner in which projects had been sanctioned and implemented in Amaravati, but the TDP and the JSP were blowing his statements out of proportion to derive political mileage.
He alleged that there were many scandals, which mainly included purchase of land around Amaravati by vested interests in the run-up to its declaration as the State capital. Further, allotment of land at different rates to various parties, gifting away of 1,700 acres to Singapore companies, and awarding projects to just about six companies were all questionable. The residence of former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was itself an illegal structure.
“There would be 1,000 such scandals if one digs out the misdeeds of the previous government,” he quipped, pointing out that tenders worth ₹36,000 crore were invited in just two months before the elections and the government was looking into tenders amounting to a whopping ₹1,09,000 crore.
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‘An open secret’
Addressing the media here, Mr. Satyanarayana said Mr. Naidu and his son Lokesh were obviously shocked as the government started exposing the scandals. It appears from the comments made by JSP president Pawan Kalyan that he was supporting the misdeeds of the TDP government.
“Mr. Kalyan maintained stoic silence on various issues earlier. He is now targeting the present government as part of a game-plan with the TDP. It will be better if he makes it clear that he is with the TDP, which is an open secret,” he said.
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The Minister said Mr. Pawan Kalyan did not back the government’s stand on the review of wind and solar Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), which was intended to pass on the benefit of lower tariffs to teh consumers, particularly those who could not pay hefty electricity bills.
The JSP chief was also against calling for reverse tenders for Polavaram project, again aimed at saving money to the exchequer.
Trading barbs
On Mr. Kalyan’s warning that he could land in trouble for alleged involvement in the Volkswagen scandal if he annoyed Narendra Modi and Amit Shah with whose concurrence Amaravati was being built, Mr. Satyanarayana asked whether he (Mr. Kalyan) could corroborate his charges.