The YSR Congress Party on Monday welcomed the High Court order to the CBI and other investigating agencies to inquire into the assets of former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The YSR Congress wanted the CBI to conduct an in-depth probe into the assets declared by Mr. Naidu as well as those held by the family in benami names. The High Court order exposed the hollowness in the claims of Mr. Naidu who wanted to get mileage by declaring his assets, YSR Party leader Jupudi Prabhakar Rao said.
“The order proved yet again that people are not prepared to believe Mr. Naidu in spite of his antics like staging a token fast with social activist Anna Hazare,” he said.
YSR Party spokesman Gattu Ramachandra Rao said the CBI, which conducted extensive searches on the premises of YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, should adopt the same yardstick for Mr. Naidu to bring out the facts. “People have the right to know about the facts pertaining to the extent of misuse of authority by the TDP president,” Mr. Prabhakar Rao said.
Ridiculing the claims on clean chit obtained by Mr. Naidu in the irregularities committed in the past, he said Mr. Naidu should not make any attempts to secure stay on the High Court order to scuttle the probe by the premier investigation agencies.
APCC president Botcha Satyanarayana opined that Mr. Naidu should have volunteered to seek an inquiry on charges of corruption before the court intervened in the matter. It was the bounden duty of the people's representatives to clarify doubts whenever charges of irregularities were levelled against them. Senior Congress leader V. Hanumanth Rao advised Mr. Naidu to cooperate with the investigation to prove his innocence. Recalling how late YSR withdrew cases against Mr. Naidu in the past, Mr. Rao hoped that the inquiry ordered by the court would bring out the facts.
Special court
Welcoming the High Court decision to order investigation by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate into the assets of Mr Naidu, Lok Satta Party's working president D.V.V.S. Varma recalled that his party had sought constitution of a special court to probe corruption charges Late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Mr. Naidu had hurled at each other. Party president Jayaprakash Narayan, during party's annual conference in Ongole last month, had also demanded a CBI inquiry into the assets of Mr. Naidu, the party leaders said.
